Naomi J. Burke

Naomi J. Burke, 73, formerly of Hanover, KS., and Beatrice, Neb., died Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, at the Wheatland Nursing Center in Russell, KS. Visitation was Tuesday, December 18, noon until 8 p.m. at the Hanover Mortuary. The family received friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral service was held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, December 19, at the United Methodist Church in Barnes, KS. Rev. Sandra Jellison-Knock officiated. Burial was in the Hanover Cemetery. Naomi Jeanne Erickson was born January 14, 1939, to Osborne and Anna (Morlan) Erickson, on their farm outside of Leona, KS. After Osborne’s death in 1944, Anna and daughters, Lois, Naomi and Nancy, moved to Leona, KS. The family moved to Shawnee Mission, KS, in 1955, where Naomi attended and graduated from Shawnee Mission High School in 1957. After two years of college at Emporia State University, she graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in home economics. She taught the subject at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, KS, for two years. She married William Jerome “Jerry” Burke on June 7, 1964, in Roeland Park, KS, after meeting him two years earlier at a camp for Evangelical United Brethren young people in Topeka, KS. They made homes in several farms north of Hanover. They farmed outside Hanover, raising two sons. As they grew older, Naomi worked at Twin Valley Development Services in Greenleaf, KS, and as a substitute teacher for Unified School District 223. Jerry and Naomi moved into Hanover in 1987, and to Beatrice, NE, in 1990. While in Beatrice, Naomi worked as a paraprofessional at the Martin Luther Home/Mosaic. She moved to Grand Haven Retirement Community in Eldridge, IA, in 2007, near her son David. In 2010, after hip surgery, she moved to Wheatland Nursing Center in Russell and lived there until her death. Survivors include her sons and daughters-in-law, David and Janice Burke of Davenport, Iowa, and Jim and Becky Burke, Russell, KS; three grandchildren, Annie of Davenport; and Bradyn and Alexander of Russell; her sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Dale Doron, Warsaw, Ind., four nieces and a nephew and many great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father; mother, in 1997; husband, Jerry; and sister, Lois Anne, in 1996. Naomi was involved in many activities, including church and community groups. She enjoyed attending her sons’ activities, as well as gardening and canning, cooking and sewing. Memorials may be made through the funeral home to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Naomi J. Burke, please visit our flower store.