Pamm Kerr
Pamm Kerr first came to New Hope with her parents in 1957. They spent weekends and summers here and built the Studio Inn Motel on North Main St. in New Hope. They moved here permanently in August 1961. She said her father chose four or five places he would live and her mother chose New Hope.
Pamm attended the New Hope-Solebury schools and spent some of her college years in England. She met her former spouse in England and moved back with him in 1985.
When she returned to New Hope she said, “I am suited to the relatively easy-going atmosphere, and my ease living in a small town/then rural area, made returning a good choice for me.”
She said, ”I think what influenced me and my family the most at first, was that being artistic was accepted. The then quiet acceptance of being gay was a bonus.”
Pamm has spent her life championing for causes. She was raised by her parents in the Quaker tradition and attended the Solebury Friends Meeting during her adolescent years. She said this shaped her focus on social services and personal responsibility to the community.
She has helped victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and other abuse. In the 1970s Pamm counseled victims of domestic violence at a South Jersey community college. She then volunteered in Buck’s County at “A Women’s Place”. Pamm worked for the NJ Coalition for Battered Women, Woman Space and the Women’s Crisis Center also in New Jersey. She said she had visited numerous shelters and programs by 1990. Pamm helped propose the wording for the Domestic Violence laws.
She has also been a strong advocate of homeschooling and homeschooled her own children. When her first child was born in 1984, Pamm decided to homeschool.
In the book “The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child”, Linda Dobson says,”Pamm has watched her role as homeschooling parent evolve from organizer and presenter to facilitator, magician (finding brilliant mentors to support her children’s interests) and chauffeur.”
Pamm says her most accomplished achievements in New Hope are “being the Town Beggar for the Arts and other non-profits.” She is involved with the Friends of the Free Library of New Hope-Solebury and is active in fundraising for them. Pamm said, “In the 21st. century I have spent a lot of time supporting New Hope area nonprofit organizations.”
She said, “I figure that my openness to dealing with other people as they are, even when their issues have been new to me, is the greatest strength I received from growing up in New Hope. New Hope also allows me to develop my own sense of style without feeling I have to fit some norm.”
Pamm appreciates the beauty of Bucks County. She said she “loves the trees, the river, and when I’m not needing to walk far these days, the hills. I enjoy the mix of old buildings with some new.”
She loves the cannon in New Hope, Japan Artisans and the river. Her haunts include New Hope Arts and galleries, the library and the Bucks County Playhouse.
