Burke, Bryan, 1898-1933

BURKE, JOHNSON

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/12/2010 at 19:11:31

BRYAN BURKE DIED WEDNESDAY
Former Hawarden Young Man Passed Away in Veterans' Hospital

Bryan Burke, a former Hawarden young man, died at 4 o'clock Wednesday morning [May 24] in the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Hospital near Chicago where he had been a patient since last November. His relatives here had heard nothing from him for several years until about six weeks ago when he wrote his sister from the hospital that he was being treated there for tuberculosis of the throat. Following that he wrote several letters praising the treatment he was receiving. Word was received from the hospital authorities Tuesday that his death was imminent and he passed away early the following morning.

Bryan Burke was born on the old Thos. Burke farm, six miles north of Hawarden, Feb. 11, 1898, so was but little past 35 years of age at the time of his death. His mother died when he was 5 years old and his father passed away three years later. Following the death of his parents he made his home with his aunt, Mrs. Elmer Johnson, in Hawarden and grew to young manhood here. He attended the Hawarden high school, graduating with the class of 1915, and during his high school days was employed in the clothing store operated here by Mr. Johnson. He left Hawarden following his graduation from high school and went to Chicago where he was employed for a time in the brokerage business. At the outbreak of the World War he enlisted in the navy, entering the service on the west coast. During his service he suffered a fall on board ship and sustained a badly broken leg, which necessitated his confinement in a naval hospital in Seattle for many months and from which he never fully recovered.

After his discharge from the navy he traveled widely over the world, spending a number of years in South America. He returned from there four or five years ago and again engaged in the brokerage business in Chicago, entering the government hospital last fall.

He is survived by two brothers, Raymond Burke of Los Angeles, Calif., and Thomas Burke, who resides in Michigan, and one sister, Mrs. A. H. Nolan of Madison, S.D., besides numerous other relatives and many old friends here who learned of his death with sincere regret. He was a high school classmate of Harry Rummel, whose death also occurred Wednesday in a government hospital at Tucson, Ariz.

The remains are being shipped to Hawarden but funeral arrangements have not yet been completed.

Source: Hawarden Independent, May 25, 1933.