Albertina Kerr
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Albertina Kerr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Albertina Sechtem July 13, 1890 |
| Died | October 17, 1911 (aged 21) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Resting place | River View Cemetery |
Albertina Kerr (née Sechtem; July 13, 1890 – October 17, 1911) was an American philanthropist and the wife of Kerr Glass Company founder Alexander H. Kerr. She is the namesake for the Albertina Kerr Centers in Portland, Oregon, United States, which historically provided care for orphaned children, as well as daycare services for single mothers.[1][2]
Albertina Sechtem was born in Portland to Louis and Christina Sechtem.[2] Louis, who owned The Quelle Restaurant on Southwest Second Avenue and Stark Street, was from Germany, and Christina was from Sweden.[2] Known to her family as "Tina", Albertina attended Couch Elementary School and Lincoln High School.[2] Louis Sechtem died in 1894, so Albertina and her siblings went to work to support the family while in high school or shortly after.[2] She dropped out of high school and went to work at the Kerr Glass Company at Northwest Fourth Avenue and Hoyt Street, where she met owner Alexander Kerr.[2]
In what was a scandal at the time, Kerr divorced his wife to marry Sechtem, who was 28 years his junior; an Oregonian front-page headline of the time declared: "Rich merchant divorces wife!"[3] Sechtem and Kerr were wed on September 29, 1910.[3] Albertina moved into Alexander's house at 129 14th Street, and their son John was born in June 1911.[2] Shortly after John was born, the Kerrs traveled to Camp Rilea on the Oregon Coast and Long Beach, Washington, and Albertina contracted typhoid fever while on the trip, probably from one of the beach areas.[2] She died on October 17, 1911.[2] Her deathbed wish to her husband was: "Look after other motherless babies, too."[3]
