Lake Bluff Obituary: Thomas Kerf, 91

Thomas D. Kerf, age 91, of Lake Bluff, IL, died peacefully on October 2, 2024, with his beloved son David and his gentle, dedicated caregiver Kitty by his side. Tom is survived by his five children: Catherine (Stephen) Olnas of Lake Bluff, IL; Julie (Justin) Hansen of Malakoff, TX; Janet (Matthew) Nagel of Lake Forest, IL; David (Mary Beth) Kerf of Lake Bluff, IL; and Anne (Roelif) Loveland of Peru, IL. He is also survived by 16 grandchildren: Katharine, Andrew, and Julie Olnas; David and Michael Padilla; Lauren, Hilary, and Skye Hansen; Vicente and Mercedes Nagel; Greta Nagel Collins; Anna and Maxwell Kerf; and Sam, Kyle, and Ted Loveland. Additionally, he is survived by eight great-grandchildren: Jax, Alex, and Sloane Padilla; Gaddyn Cole; Michael Preston Padilla; Isla Webb; Steele Reitz; and Eloise Collins.

Preceding him in death are his beautiful wife, Helen (d. 2023), his parents Joseph (d.1994) and Margaret (d.1970), his siblings Robert (d.1926 ) and Donald (d.2014), and his son-in-law Justin Hansen (d. 2024).

Thomas was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on August 19, 1933, to Joseph and Margaret (Northup) Kerf. He grew up on a farm just outside of Iowa City, where he rode a horse to his one-room schoolhouse each day. A standout athlete at Iowa City High School, known for his impressive combination of size and speed, he was a unanimous All State selection at Offensive Tackle while also anchoring the defense as Middle Linebacker. He went on to play football for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. Tom was a brother in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, where he served as President. He met his future bride on a blind date with the gorgeous former high school homecoming queen, Helen Richmann, who also attended Iowa. Tom graduated with a degree in Speech Communication, which makes sense, as he always possessed the clear, authoritative voice and presence of a professional broadcaster, even in his 90s.

Tom was proud of his country and served for 12 years in the U.S. Army Reserves in the Iowa Military District, where he attained the rank of Captain. He juggled his army reserve duties while raising five kids with Helen and establishing a lifelong career at Procter & Gamble. Tom worked at P&G as a sales manager in the Paper Division for 31 years until his early retirement at the age of 57. The Kerfs took pride in his tenure at P&G; the words “please pass me a Kleenex” were considered taboo. The family only ever used “tissues” for runny noses, so “pass me a Puff” was proper etiquette in the Kerf household. A commitment to Puffs, Tide, and Crest toothpaste is a legacy that continues with Tom’s progeny.

When Tom advanced to a managerial position at P&G, he needed to find a new home for his growing family. His boss suggested he check out “The North Shore,” which meant little to the Iowa farm boy. However, he rolled down Green Bay Road in Lake Bluff and found a lot for sale on the West Terrace. Tom and Helen raised their five children there, keeping their roots on the terrace for the next 60 years.

Those are the facts—things that matter unquestionably—but there’s so much more.

Tom was a true gentleman: a charmer, humble and sensitive yet larger than life. He had movie star looks with the bluest eyes and a full head of curls until his last days. He was full of emotion; each word he spoke was filled with conviction and heart. He was also strong, bullheaded, persevering, and unerringly steadfast. He lived life like he played racquetball—standing strong, unmovable, paddle up, eyes on the ball, not afraid of the hits he was destined to take to win the point. He would return home from matches with welts and bruises that suggested true battle, leaving his family in shock and awe.

This same man was a dad who breaks his children’s hearts at the thought of him gone.

All those evenings telling the funniest stories to his kids while relaxing in his La-Z-Boy, the beloved family dog, “Happy,” on his lap. He was always there for them—Little League coach and girls' softball coach (yes, winning DID matter back then). On weekends, he would hook up an open trailer to the family car, let his five kids hop in the back, roll down the driver's window, let his arm dangle out with the music on, and slowly roll across West Terrace, as kids from all over the neighborhood would hop aboard—the best of Lake Bluff in the 60s.

He was proud of his roots as an Iowa farm boy and never lost his love for the land. The garden he maintained for years made walking into Helen’s kitchen an absolute delight every summer, as it brimmed with blackberry jams and rhubarb pies, mounds of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and jars of salsa and pesto, which were regularly distributed to family and friends. Their mantra was, “Big dad workin’ in the yard,” while mom never stopped creating in the kitchen. Tom would take his grandkids “dumpster diving” at the Lake Bluff Village dump on Saturdays, allowing them to find treasures—trinkets and odd pieces of piping—anything that sparked their curiosity.

He had a humility that was full of emotion and a love for all people from any walk of life. He would hear their stories and share his own—and then he would not let go. He met a husband and wife selling handicrafts in a street market in Bolivia and, of course, asked for their story. Upon hearing they would love to sell their crafts in the United States, he made it his mission for ten years to help them do just that, setting up sales meetings in grocery stores in North Chicago and speaking broken Spanish to get the deal done. After retirement, he became a private “lawyer investigator,” sometimes taking his kids along on stakeouts to play a role.

Tom also loved his church and his faith. He met many of his closest friends through Bible study at St. Mary’s Church of Lake Forest. Tom was trained and served as a Minister of Care, visiting the sick and dying, providing communion and compassion to residents at several senior living centers. He ran bread runs for the poor year after year, hauling pastries and day-old bread from Lake Forest bakeries and fancy food stores, chatting up the shopkeepers, and then working the food pantry in Waukegan with Helen and fellow parishioners, making friends and sharing stories on both ends of the journey.

Tom was that kind of man—someone you did not forget. Larger than life.

He managed his pennies and calculated his earnings through self-taught financial acumen. He would sit at his makeshift desk off the kitchen, tapping away on his “PC.” His proprietary investment “algorithms” consisted of a multitude of yellow post-it notes scattered across every available surface—what appeared to a child’s eyes as just a jumble of numbers jotted down in pencil. His “Rolodex” was a metal bread loaf pan, with binder clips gripping tattered cards. His success was well beyond expectations.

This is the man we celebrate: his children, his children’s children, and all those little ones to come. We hope to carry on some semblance of Tom in our integrity, humility, acumen, compassion, and our ability to spin a spellbinding, achingly funny yarn. So much of that comes from Tom.

Rest in peace until we meet again. We love you more than you ever knew possible.

A Celebration of Life will be held in the Fall. Tom’s final resting place will be with Helen at the St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Lake Forest, IL. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please share a story or a memory you have of Tom. You may also donate in his memory to the Most Blessed Trinity Food Kitchen in Waukegan or the Common Ground Community Rescue Network for their work with rescue dogs (in gratitude for “caregiver pups” Kash and Aragon, who loved Tom every chance they got during his final years).

A check may be written out to: The Most Blessed Trinity Soup Kitchen @ Most Blessed Trinity Church 450 Keller Avenue Waukegan, IL 60085

Or follow this link for the Common Ground CRN: https://commonground-crn.org/donate-now/