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Kerley retires after impressive career, service to city




John Kerley

John Kerley

Retiring Portland Vice-Mayor John Kerley has played an important role in our nation’s history as a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

After the 9/11 attacks, he was called to New York City to help set up a computer command center in a parking garage during the aftermath of the attacks. He assisted in the installation of both the network and 25,000 computers in 30 days in the parking garage in the city. Kerley had joined the FBI in 1998 as a computer specialist assigned to the Nashville branch.

Kerley said, “It was an unbelievable environment to be involved in. It was surreal.”

Kerley had already had a lifetime of experiences before he joined the FBI. During the Vietnam War, he joined the Navy and served a tour in Vietnam, assigned to Brown Water Navy conducting missions on the rivers and canals.

During this service that he came in contact with Agent Orange, which has given him significant health issues. The Veterans’ Hospital has certified him as an Agent Orange victim. According to Kerley, his exposure has caused him to develop Parkinson’s Disease and liver problems.

Beverly Kerley stands in front of the FBI headquarters on her last day of work. SUBMITTED

Beverly Kerley stands in front of the FBI headquarters on her last day of work. SUBMITTED

“The VA does excellent health care and speeds up the process when your health issues are certified to be because of Agent Orange,” Kerley said.

Starting out in the family business

 

His life did not go in the direction he had anticipated. He began at an early age working at Kerley’s, a family business opened in 1904 by his grandfather. Many members of the family worked there and it was expected that John would, too. However; according to Kerley, business patterns changed and it was difficult to continue competing for sales with the larger chain stores.

Fred White introduced him to police work by offering him a part-time job with the Portland Police Department when he returned from the war. He began as a dispatcher working with Nancy Mitchell and Charlie Wheeler. At that time dispatchers handled all incoming police, fire, and ambulance calls, along with serving as jailers. 

E-5 3rd Class Petty Officer, US Navy

E-5 3rd Class Petty Officer, US Navy

He continued working at the family store during this time, while he worked night shift. Kerley temporarily left the police department to serve on the city council. At the end of his term, he became a full-time patrol officer and certified training officer before advancing to assistant police chief. He was the first DARE Officer for PPD. During his time with the PPD, he helped initiate the original 911 program that involved renaming streets.

Kerley married Beverly Edminson in 1973. He laughed when he recalled going to Paducah, Ky. for their honeymoon because he was scheduled to receive additional police training after the wedding. They have one son Beau (Lindsey) and two grandchildren.

In 1993, he was asked to join the TBI where he helped establish the Criminal Investigation Division. His first supervisor was Jeff Long, who is now Commissioner of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.  While with the TBI, he was sent to Washington, D.C. to received training from the FBI on how to investigate unidentified bodies.

Portland Police Department, officer

Portland Police Department, officer

In addition, he helped develop the TBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, which was patterned like the FBI list. Each time he received training, his computer skills grew, and he became a forensic computer specialist. He worked on high level crimes with the TBI.

Joining the FBI

In 1998, he reluctantly left the TBI to join the FBI after the bureau spent a year investigating his life history before hiring him. Kerley said he got a letter from the FBI stating that he would be hired if he passed a polygraph and drug test.

“The polygraph test was done in Nashville. The older you get the more baggage of experiences you carry around and truthfulness is the premise the bureau works on,” Kerley said. “If you are ever thought to be deceptive you lose your security secret clearance and can no longer work for the FBI.”

While serving with the FBI, Kerley became certified as an expert forensic computer specialist which qualified him to testify as an expert witness in court. He traveled to various places around the world to offer expert testimony.

He worked on many high-profile cases such as the Boston Marathon Bombing, the shopping mall massacre in Africa, and the bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta. He was part of the investigation the FBI did after the death of Osama bin Laden, and was involved with the analysis media associated with the investigation.

Kerley’s wife Beverly had worked 15 years with the Southern Baptist Foundation before leaving Tennessee, and she also became an employee with the FBI. She began working as a secretary for unit chiefs and before leaving the bureau, she worked directly in the office of the directors of the FBI. They both worked under Directors Louis Freeh, Robert Mueller, and James Comey.

Kerley said, “I was amazed at what she was able to accomplish. Before her retirement, she was assigned the personal assistant to the FBI’s deputy director, and called in to fill in when the director’s personal assistant had to be away. She was asked to apply for the job when it came open, but she bowed out because she was too near retirement.

Kerley has played a significant role in the security of the United States in his work with the FBI. While his head is full of stories of his work, he remains low key about his service and will only talk in generalities.

Always an interest in Portland

He has always been interested in serving the citizens of the City of Portland. He was first elected as an alderman for the city in May of 1977 and served through May 1985. During that time, he became involved in the early years of the waste water project in Portland. He flew with a delegation led by Mayor Fred White to the states of Washington and Iowa to look at various programs.

After he retired and moved back to Portland, he chose to run again for alderman and was elected in November 2016. He is currently serving as vice-mayor, a position he held during his earlier service. He chose not to seek re-election because he and his wife will be moving out of the area to be near their son and his family.

As an alderman, Kerley promoted the preservation of Portland history. He worked with the city to provide a grant for seed money to help with the continuing renovation of The Temple Theatre. He was instrumental in getting the city to take over the Cold Springs School building, while the Highland Rim Historical Society would be responsible for the educational programs at the school. He worked steadily for the revitalization of Main Street and made the motion to keep city hall downtown and renovate it rather than building on the property the city had recently purchased with the intent of moving city hall to Highway 52 West. The council gave their support.

He supported the purchase of the golf course as an amenity to the city. In addition, he led the way to allow residential dwellings on second floors of commercial buildings.

It was a special moment for Kerley at the last city council meeting, when a resolution was passed to turn the Moye-Green House into a museum for Portland history. Kerley had served on a committee for several years as they worked toward finding a location for a museum. It was an emotional moment for him when he cast one of his last votes as a member of the council for the creation of a museum.

Kerley said, “My four-year term on the council is over on Dec. 1, when the new council will be sworn into office. I must say how proud I am of the accomplishments that were made by the council, Mayor Wilber, and Mayor Callis for the citizens of Portland over the past four years.”

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