Maryboro Lodge Personality: Burritt Kerr

Burritt and Hansom Kerr in 1941 Fair Parade

Burritt Kerr (often pronounced “Bert”) grew up in the construction and aggregate business, in the era before there was heavy equipment. His father, Clayton, had been working since the early twentieth century, and it was without doubt heavy and hard labour. They started in the business before stone crushers were common and were mining a deposit of natural gravel located between Pigeon Lake Road and Ranch Road, south of Bobcaygeon. All of the aggregate had to be loaded by hand, initially into a horse-drawn dump cart. The Kerrs’ ability to shovel was legendary. Anyone else would have used a spade to load gravel, but Burritt Kerr used a grain scoop.

Burritt grew up working as a human excavator and persevered through back problems for his entire adult life. He wore a corset to provide support and would not let it slow him down. He embraced self-reliance and had the determination to overcome practically any problem… by himself. “If a man made it, a man could fix it.”

In 1958, Burritt bought an International backhoe that dug the graves in Verulam Cemetery for 50 years—living with the painful reminders of the physical costs of manual labour, he embraced heavy equipment when it became available. For many years, Burritt plowed snow in the Bobcaygeon area and collected garbage with his father. One would drive the truck, while the other walked along the street, throwing the bags up into the dump box.

Bruce Hobley Photograph of Burritt and Mildred Kerr in Bobcaygeon Parade, June 7, 2008 in front of Purdy's Jewellery, Bobcaygeon

As he was collecting Bobcaygeon’s trash, Burritt had the ingenuity to imagine how to make art from waste. He took propane cylinders and made people out of them. He designed chairs from tractor seats and turned hames into cup or ashtray holders. One year, the Boyd Museum exhibited his art. He travelled far and wide with his wife, Mildred, in their Ford Deluxe Car—Black Beauty. They were among the first Bobcaygeon residents to acquire a snowmobile and made many memorable journeys together. They were also remembered for their creative parade floats. For one, Burritt modified a cutter to be propelled with a lawn mower, inventing a braking system so it could be steered like a skid-steer. He then cut out wooden reindeer, which he suspended in front. Bobcaygeon residents will long remember the sight of Mildred driving a dump truck in the parade at the age of 80. Together, they brought a lot of smiles to the faces of Bobcaygeon residents. When someone said the world’s gone crazy, Burritt would reply: “No, no, it hasn’t, it’s just the people.”