Page 53 - August 2023 Issue.indd

Sophie Kerr Born in creative writing program to steadily good cook could produce a dish she
enhance the English Department. describes.
Denton 143
Some of Miss Kerr’s background, which Among her numerous novels and short
Years Ago may be unfamiliar to Caroline County stories were: “The Blue Envelope,” “Th e

residents, are as follows: Golden Block,” “Painted Meadows,”
Just 143 years ago this month, Sophie “Jennie Devlin,” “The Man Who Knew

Kerr was born in Denton in a white The house in which she is believed to the Date,” and “As Tall as Pride.”
frame house at the eastern edge of town. have been born was originally outside
the Denton town limits and her father She once said, “I certainly have no

The Caroline County native who was
had many fruit and nut trees on 150 message for the world. It’s just light
to become an editor of the popu-
acres. He was a horticulturist, and fi ction.”
lar Woman’s Home Companion and
sold produce in town, probably a fore-
author, published 23 novels and 500 Well, she may not have attained the
runner of the farmers in town today.
short stories before she died in 1965. best-seller lists, but she did something
She was born on August 23, 1880, and else that would survive, would help
Since she only lived in Denton a short
attended Hood College in Frederick, some new Sophie Kerr, would have a
time early in her life, and did all of her
receiving her BA degree in 1898. In happy twist, like a Sophie Kerr story.
writing in New England and New York 1901 she got her masters degree at the It’s the magnificent check that goes each

City, she is not that well-known in University of Vermont. June to an aspiring writer.
Maryland and some folks who enjoyed

her writings think she is one of the She married John D. Underwood in The late Dr. Joseph McCain, a former
state’s most neglected authors. 1904, and during the four years of her president of Washington College,
marriage lived in New England. In 1908 perhaps put it best: “Even mortar and
But while she may not be a prominent
she became divorced and never remar- bricks fall down. What better way to
person in her own birthplace, Sophie
ried. perpetuate your name than a prize?”
Kerr is a big name at Washington

College where she left all of of her estate, As a very young woman she did some
valued at $573,000, for the college to use newspaper work and later was woman’s
as a literary prize for graduating seniors. editor of the Pittsburgh Chronicle-
Telegraph & Gazette. But she said at
Initiated in 1968, the cash award to one
one time all she ever wanted to do was
graduate has varied from $9,000 the fi rst to write. So she wrote. This led to her

year to this past year’s $65,000 award.
becoming managing editor of now
This makes it the richest prize off ered defunct Woman’s Home Companion.

to any of the nation’s undergraduates, Some of her short stories appeared in
and second only to the Nobel Prize in the magazine. One of her best novels,
the fi eld of literature in the world. Th e “Adventure With Women” ran serially
coveted Pulitizers bring their recipients in it.
only $1,000 and the Bancroft Prize is
She travelled widely, but in her later years
$4,000.
spent most of her time in a New York
At first, there was some doubt that Miss apartment with her pet cat. Th rough her

Kerr would have intended so much travels, she became especially fond of
money as a single award. But executors France and Spain, but retained her love
of the estate assured offi cials at Wash- for Maryland, particularly the Eastern
ington College there was no mistake Shore. She was reported to have been

and she did indeed wish it exactly that working on a non-fiction piece when
way. She wanted one person to receive she died at 84.
something quite extraordinary.
She was known as a delightful host-
Equally important to the college, the ess and termed a “culinary expert and
10th oldest in the U.S., as the indi- connoisseur of food.” One of the most
vidual prize winner, is the English appealing features of her books, particu-
Department’s use of the income from larly those with an Eastern Shore setting,
the other half of the bequest. Funds was her mouth-watering descriptions of
from this income have been used for wonderful meals prepared and eaten.
college scholarships, visiting lecturers Sometimes she would include enough
and poets, literary conferences and a of a description of a recipe so that a

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