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BURTNESS, Joan Irene (JACKSON) PERKINS

JACKSON, PERKINS, BURTNESS, EBERHARDT, PORTERFIELD, BARTHOLOMEW, HARRIS, ARISPE, SATER, THOMPSON, DOLAND, GULIANO, KLUNDER, SMITH, SHEEHAN, SARGENT, FICKEN, MICHALES, SONGER, KOLWINSKI, JENKINS COVERT

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 9/24/2016 at 14:36:22

Obituary ~ Joan Irene (Jackson) Perkins Burtness
February 12, 1939 ~ November 15, 2008

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
November 17, 2008

Mason City -- Joan Irene Burtness, 69, of 1004 North Quincy Avenue, Mason City, went to meet her Lord God, and Savior on Saturday, November 15, 2008, at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 P.M., Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 3rd Street Northeast, Mason City, with Pastor Jeff Dahlin officiating. Inurnment will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery following the memorial service.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service from 12:00-1:00 P.M.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Joan I. Burtness fund.

Joan Irene Jackson Perkins Burtness was born at home in Mason City, Iowa on February 12, 1939, to William Osman and Irene Margaret (Eberhardt) Jackson. She was the second of three daughters, Jeanette, Joan and Judy. She was baptized at home by Reverend Heinz from Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mason City, and confirmed by Pastor Meyer at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Panama City, Panama Canal Zone where her husband Curtis was stationed for 42 months with the U.S. Army.

She attended McKinley and Harding Elementary schools, Monroe Jr. High in Mason City, as well as Washington School in Chicago, IL, where she received 2 school scholarships and studied under direction of her master artist Otis Osbourne at the Art Institute of Chicago. A delightful opportunity for her! Her first job at 14 was a checkout clerk at a local grocery store earning $.25 an hour then working at a drugstore soda fountain for $.35 an hour. She then progressed to factory work earning $.50 an hour at age 16 for G & G Wood Products painting and stenciling Chicago Fire Department barricades, constructing chair frames, children’s chairs and toy boxes along with tending to the office business while her employer was out. Moving on to Mason City, she was a babysitter, did car hopping at Hasse’s Drive In, and Zanios Produce.

While working as a checkout clerk at her uncle John Eberhardt’s grocery store at age 17, she entered into marriage with Marvin R. Davis Perkins on April 22, 1956, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, IA. One son, William Ray Perkins was born to this union on May 9, 1957, in Albany, Georgia at Albrook Air Force Base.

She returned to Chicago with her son William shortly after to be with her parents while waitressing the midnight shift at The White Cottage Café directly across the street. Also she worked part time at her father’s cousin Jake Jacksons Hotel Restaurant where she learned to be a short order cook. She joined in marriage with Curtis Burtness on March 31, 1959, in Austin, MN, when her son William was 2 years old. They were blessed with their first child, a son Randall Curtis who was born April 10, 1961, in Panama City, Panama Cannel Zone. They had 3 more children born before term then God blessed her with two beautiful daughters born 10 months 18 days apart at Ft. Benjamin Harrison Military Base in Indianapolis, Indiana. They spent 13 months in Mason City while her husband, Curtis, was station in Korea from 1967-69. Their next move was to Fort Bliss, Elpaso, Texas then Mason City, when he shipped out to Germany. They transferred to St. James, MN, for his last duty station, retiring after 22 years, with the U.S. Army and then moved to Northwood, in 1972, Mason City in 1975, and at last settled down in Manly, in 1983, and then back to Mason City in September, 2008.

Between her many travels, her jobs were babysitter, a ding dong Avon lady, Tupperware lady, bartender/manager, cook, deli, manager, salesclerk in numerous departments, and cosmetologist at The House of James, Indianapolis, IN. After her children were grown, she became a certified member with the Newspaper Institute of America in New York City in 1987. She completed high school and graduated at NIACC in 1988 followed by Computer and Genealogy courses. She was a poet and member of the National Poetry Association, North Iowa Genealogical Society and a life time member of the VFW Post 1133. Her hobbies were writing poetry, planning surprise parties, cooking, baking, decorating cakes, painting, sewing, crocheting, ceramics, interior design, bingo, fishing, camping, surfing the internet and most of all loving her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Through the years she continued to teach herself the art of cake decorating and supplying cakes to family, friends and friends of friends. At the age of 63, she was accepted by Wilton Industries and became a Wilton Method Cake Decorating Instructor. A special thank you to her beautiful daughter, Marcie Porterfield for her encouragement to teach the art of cake decorating and a special thank you to her beautiful daughter, Margie Bartholomew who taught her how to power shop!! What fun they are!!! A special thank you to her dear dear cousin, Betty Lou Harris for always being there for her all her life.

The hardest part of Joan’s journey is to leave behind her greatest treasures, her family, her life, her world, her love.

She is survived by her husband, Curtis G. Burtness of 49 years, her daughter, Margie Bartholomew and special friend, Mike Arispe, and his children, Jeremy and Alicia Arispe, Mason City, her daughter, Marcie Porterfield and husband Brad, Manly, her son William Perkins and his wife Tracey and her children, Arkansas, grandchildren, Marcus Sater, Dionne Sater, Christina Perkins, Billie Mae Perkins, Denver, CO, Christopher Thompson, Cory Doland, Manly, Alicia Bartholomew and Timothy Bartholomew, Mason City, Alyssa Porterfield and Zachary Porterfield, her great grandchildren, Cheridan, Lakota, Saphira, Melanie, Thomas, Nikki, Joshua, Emmalea Sater, Paige Guliano, Denver, CO, and Jaiden Thompson, Plymouth, her sister, Jeanette “Jenny” Klunder, Mason City, and special friend, Wayne Smith, Leland, her special nephews, Dean and Rick Klunder, Mason City, her beautiful nieces, Julie and daughter’s Whitney, and Cheyanne Sheehan, Osage, Teresa and husband Ron Sargent and their daughter Chelsey and twin boys Nickolas and Jacob Sargent, Clear Lake, Aunt Velma Ficken and family, Theidosia, MO, Aunt Dorothy Michales, and family, Ojai, CA, along with many cousins and friends, last but definitely not least her wonderful sister in law, Marsha Songer, LaVerne, CA.

Waiting patiently to greet Joan were her parents, her son Randall Curtis Burtness, 3 children born before term, her sister, Judy Ellen Jackson, her grandparents, John and Anna Marie “Brill” Eberhardt, grandparents, Isaac Jackson and Marie Berna (Scott) Kolwinski, Bauman, Watley, along with many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, and her husbands parents, Gerald and Anna Geneva (Jenkins) Burtness, and sister in law Betty Covert and families.

Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel 641-423-2372 www.colonialchapels.com

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2016


 

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