John Alfred Burke

John (known as Jack by his family) spent his formative years in AuSable Forks, Jay and Saranac Lake involved in the local Boy Scout troop and working at Kelly’s grocery store. He left the area to attend the State University of New York in Albany but enlisted in the Navy after the Korean War broke out. While in the Navy, he spent a year training as a radar apecialist and five years on LST 1164 sailing the eastern coast of the U.S., the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. After he was honorably discharged from the Navy, he attended the University of Washington earning a BS in Physics. He was hired by Hughes Aircraft Company and spent over 30 years designing and installing the radar systems that kept the western world safe after WWII.

It was while at the UW, he met his future wife, Joan, during a retreat at Paradise on Mt. Rainier. They married after a whirlwind romance and lived in Santa Monica and El Paso briefly before spending five years in Germany and Italy. They finally settled in Anaheim, California. They were members of St. Anthony Claret and St. Boniface Parishes.

John served as Boy Scout Master of Troops 123 and 73 and was a Council Commissioner for close to 40 years. He received many awards from the Scouting Organization including the Silver Beaver award.

After retiring from Hughes in 1988, he become a stock broker and a real estate broker opening A+ Burke Realty with his wife, Joan. He also became a certified travel agent specializing in the cruise industry. While he had traveled extensively throughout his life and suffered from motion sickness, he loved cruises and visited all seven continents and the major rivers of the world with Joan prior to her death in 2013. In addition, he served on the Republican Central Committee with his wife and together they worked for Pro-Life causes.

John was multi-talented being an outdoorsman, an exceptional cook, an excellent bowler, a golfer, a painter, and storyteller. He had a love for cars (that included owning a 1962 Maserati), jazz and classical music. He was a patron of museums and opera and a connoisseur of wine and dining. He came from a family of teachers and likewise he shared his many interests with his family and scouts teaching them so much about life – from grinding down glass to make a telescope mirror to changing the tire of a car to cooking an elaborate Baked Alaska.

John is survived by: his children, Tom of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ann (Jay) of Kirkland, Washington, Michael (Svetlana) of Redmond, Washington, Brian (Katie) of Burien, Washington, and Laura (Michael) of Ireland; 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; his brother Joseph (Mo) of Arizona and his sister Beverly Poole of New Hampshire; his stepsister Sandra Gauthier of South Carolina; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins located throughout the U.S. He was closely followed in death by his brother Edward (Liz) of Arizona and was predeceased by his wife Joan and his stepsister Connie Fischer of Ohio.

A vigil service for John will be held on Monday, April 18 from 4-7 p.m. with a rosary at Hilgenfeld’s Mortuary in Anaheim. His funeral will be held at St. Boniface Church in Anaheim on Tuesday, April 19 at 10 a.m. A burial service will take place at Riverside National Cemetery.