Kerby named to Idaho Hall of Fame

BONNERS FERRY — Local businessman, former Bonners Ferry mayor and Idaho State Senate alternate Darrel Kerby was inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame as a community activist July 22 at the lunchtime meeting of the Bonners Ferry Rotary Club.

“Darrell is a former student of mine,” said 2012 Human Rights inductee Tony Stewart, up from Kootenai County to help induct Kerby. “When you ask people in Bonners Ferry who the most effective mover and shaker is, they say it’s Darrell. He is a beautiful example of how you can take care of all your citizens, especially the students.”

The first Idaho Hall of Fame inductee from Boundary County, Kerby is the 163rd member of an elite group of Idahoans that includes Joe Albertson, William Borah, Patrick McManus, J.R. Simplot, Pappy Boyington, Dr. Forrest Bird and Ernest Hemingway on a list that reads like a who’s who from the state.

Kerby was born and raised in Bonners Ferry and received a degree in education from the University of Idaho during the Vietnam-war era.

He chose to give up his student deferment and enter the selective service lottery, narrowly missing the draft. He earned a master’s degree from Gonzaga University while teaching in the Boundary County School District, first at Valley View then at Bonners Ferry High School. He taught until 1981 when he joined the Pace-Kerby insurance company, taking over for his father, Don.

Kerby’s career as a community advocate began when he received a phone call from State Senator and farmer Don Howe, asking him to come to his father, Don Kerby’s house. Worried about his father’s health, Kerby was surprised to see a group of Bonners Ferry’s community leaders, returned World War II veterans, waiting for him.

“It’s time to start giving back to the community,” they told Kerby, then a father of two young children. “There is an opening on the city council, and we want you to run.”

“We want you to do what you know is best,” Howe told Kerby, “Don’t ask us what you should do. As an elected official, you have access to all the information. Use your judgment. When you’re up for re-election, we’ll let you know if you did right.”

Kerby served on the Bonners Ferry City Council and as mayor of Bonners Ferry for 28 years, doing what he knew was right, often against the fickle nature of public opinion.

He has served on numerous foundations, councils and boards, including the Panhandle Area Council, Safeco Insurance Company National Agents Board of Directors, the Idaho Energy Resource Board and still holds a governor-appointed position on the Idaho Health and Welfare board.

Kerby was a founding member of the nationally-recognized institutional coalition group, the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative. He spent a month in the Idaho State Senate as an alternate for Senator Shawn Kehoe.

He has testified before congress to support timber communities and for issues concerning endangered species. He has spoken out publicly against hate groups and spent years fighting a $2.25 billion lawsuit against the city from the Chemical Bank of New York. He was instrumental in building the new high school and Selkirk Community Health Center.

Through his lifetime of service to the citizens of Bonners Ferry, Boundary County and the state of Idaho, Kerby remains humble.

“I’ve never met a second-class citizen in Boundary County,” he says. “Here, I’m part of the fabric. Everyone in Bonners Ferry knows you for who you are.”

Kerby feels privileged to be a part of so much in the state. Often, he says, he was able to accomplish small parts of the bigger puzzle by focusing on what could be done, instead of bigger issues that couldn’t be solved.

“People are very generous,” he says. “You don’t do things by yourself. You build support, and get consensus. Accomplishments are made on the strength of an idea, not by bullying. If you can make people understand a good idea, it will happen.”

The Idaho Hall of Fame can be found online at www.idahoshalloffame.org and as a roving display at the Capitol building. A room in the new Boise history museum will be devoted to the inductees.

“It’s been so rewarding,” Kerby said, “the experiences I’ve had by the community putting their faith in me.”

Editor's note: Several corrections were made to the online version of this story, including the correct spelling of Sen. Shawn Keough's last name. The Herald regrets these errors.