On March 28, 2009 I received a frantic call from my mom, she was on her way back from vacation in Las Vegas and I thought something was wrong. She was crying and told me that Grandpa had died and to get a hold of my dad. I did and went and picked up my Aunt Sheri, who lives with my parents, and brought her to our house to keep her occupied until my mom got home. Here is what happened.
Norma said they sat down to lunch and Grandpa said the blessing on the food and asked for her and the family to be watched over. Then he started eating and acted like he was choking. His head went back and by the time Norma reached him he was gone. Quite and peacefully he left us.
I had the oppurtunity to help my mom with the service by choosing out pictures for the slide show. I also went over and helped to dress Grandpa to be buried in.
Services were held in Idaho Falls on April 3, 2009. It was a nice service and we would like to thank everyone for your support.
Here is the life sketch that Tallene read and my memories of him:
Byron Burke was born on May 31st 1926, in Iona Idaho, to Albert Lee and Alvine Docine Burke right behind his twin brother Myron. And I’m pretty sure he had a fishing pole in his hand. He was the eleventh child in a family of 14 children. He had 4 sister and 9 brothers however, 3 brothers and one sister died as infants. As a child Byron enjoyed listening to his mother tell stories and eating her homemade bread. Byron and his twin brother Myron gave their father anxieties as they loved to walk under his team of horses Pete and Dick when they were tied to the fence. The twin’s affection toward the animals earned them their nicknames and many people knew Byron as Pete. He said telling people he was named after a horse was one of his favorite stories to tell because not many people get named after animals.
Byron started school in Iona when he was six. At that time they only lived 2 blocks from the school and he walked to school and ran home for lunch everyday. Byron liked most things in school except having to work problems on the blackboard and felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn to read. Later, when they moved to a new house, Byron had to ride a horse to school. Since they didn’t have enough horses for everyone to ride the boys made skis out of some old barrels they dismantled and rode on them behind the horse. Some of Byron’s school memories include when he was in 7th grade and a fire broke out on the dry farm east of town. The principal came and took all the boys from 7th grade up to help put it out. Everyone worked hard and they were able to save most of the wheat. He also recalled having snowball fights in the winter and playing baseball games in the summer. He said even some of the girls could throw an accurate snowball. During his freshman year Byron played baseball, basketball, and football. He was the only underclassman to play at the senior level and he lettered in all three sports.
As a youth, outside of school Byron spent time with his siblings. He said “We may not have had a lot, but we always found things to do and had lots of fun.” One winter they built a bob sled that was pulled behind the horses. One winter the snow was so deep that it covered the house door and the boys had to dig a tunnel from the house to the barn so they could feed the animals and milk the cows. In the summer he always played on a baseball team. Byron played catcher and at one game against an Idaho Falls team Byron didn’t have a mitt to use so an IF player let him borrow one of his, that was until he caught the ball and got him out. In the summer he liked to go swimming. One day they decided to go swimming in the cow trough in the pasture by their house. On anory cow felt that this was trespassing and started chasing them around. Byron’s dog came to the rescue and distracted the cow while all the kids climbed through the fence.
Byron was a very hard worker a trait that he learned at a young age. He had learned this from doing chores and helping his mother out. They had 24 milk cows as well as a big garden. The four youngest children were in charge of weeding 10 rows of potatoes, 10 rows of corn, 8 rows of beans, beets, and peas, and 4 rows of carrots and onions. When Byron was six, his father died. After that he worked whenever he was offered a job. His first job was at seven; he picked potatoes and trimmed beets. Lots of people offered him odd jobs because they knew that he was a good and honest worker. One farmer paid him a dollar a day to shovel sand bars out of the ditch; it took all summer to clean the entire canal. As he got older he got real jobs working for farmers in the hay fields. One day a pulley came off of the top of a derrick arm. Without hesitation Byron climbed clear to the top and pulled the pulley up, reattached it and then rode the hay fork back to the ground. When Byron was 12 his mother died. The kids didn’t want to be split up so they all got jobs to support the family. The younger kids stayed in school and worked. Byron said “I worked every chance I got for five plus years. I wasn’t too proud to do anything. As I look back, this part of my childhood helped shape who I am today.” He spent most of his youth working for farmers he did everything from working in hay fields, driving teams of horse, to thinning beets.
In 1944, when Byron was a junior, he turned 18 and was drafted into the army. Upon arriving in Pocatello to fill out their paper work, the Army records listed only Myron. But Byron was not one to shrug responsibility and explained that Myron and he were twins. Soon both brothers were headed out the door to Ft Douglas, UT. Byron recalled his first job in the army was to give shots to the draftees. He said that one man, who was well over 200 lbs, passed out simply upon seeing the needles, Byron poked him anyways and rolled him out of the way. After Fort Douglas, they were shipped to Camp Robert, CA for 13 weeks of basic training. Byron had to serve kitchen duty quite often. He remembered one morning they were suppose to do a five mile run and a major came through for breakfast. He informed the kitchen crew that they were going on the run and had better be in the front of the line when he looked back. Byron said he stayed right in the front and it was a good thing or else he would have had to run the 5 miles again. After training and school in CA he got sent to jungle training in Hawaii. Byron trained mostly in sugar cane fields. One day they were sent to a new training area. The Captain told the men they were at a pineapple field but they were not allowed to pick any. When they stopped to eat lunch everyone, even the captain pulled a pineapple out of their packs. Byron said fresh pineapple was very, very good. After Jungle training, Byron, Myron and 10,000 other men were loaded on a transport ship pointed toward Okinawa. Orders came and Byron and Myron were sent to the front lines together. He was stationed on an area of coral rocks with caves above them. He said since they couldn’t dig fox holes they had to build piles of rocks to lay behind which wasn’t very comfortable. On June 20, 1945 Byron was on guard duty. A hand grenade went off near him and imbedded his left side with shrapnel. He was transferred to a hospital in Guam where he underwent 15 operations in order to remove as much shrapnel and they could. A piece of shrapnel was so close to his spine that if it had been one inch over he would have been paralyzed. This wound would prove to cause him problems for the rest of his life. While recovering in the hospital in Guam he was confined to his bed and fed ice cream every morning and cake every night. Byron said “By the time I was released I weighed 375 pounds. I definitely needed some more jungle training after that.” After several hosp transfers Byron was awarded a purple heart and sent home.
The first person Byron saw when he got back was his brother Myron and it felt great to be home. Because he had spent so much time in a hospital Byron was still quite weak. He got offered a job as a farm hand and the farmer told him to just do what he could. Byron worked with his brothers pitching hay all spring and summer, worked the potato harvest in the fall, and for Bonneville Produce in the winter. For the next three years he worked for farmers and he lost a lot of weight.
In 1948 he began working for Yellowstone Dairy. This decision would be a life changing decision since he would meet his future wife working for the dairy. While delivering ice cream mix to the White Horse Café Byron met Genevieve Mangum who worked there. After much teasing on Byron’s part, Genevieve and Byron started dating quite steady in 1947. They liked to go dancing, to baseball games, and to the show house. In 1952 he asked her to marry him. They were married in the Woodville Church house on Sept 23, 1952. Their marriage would later be sealed for all eternity in the Idaho Falls Temple on June 18, 1964.
Byron was still working for Yellowstone Dairy but that winter he slipped on the ice and injured his back. He spent 3 months at the VA hospital in Boise in traction. After this he worked for Jim Yearing at a service station, pumping gas and changing oil. He worked there for six months before the VA contacted him to tell him they had arranged for him to attend a trade school in Centerville, Iowa but he had to be there by November 25th. So he went to Roy Keller’s car sales and bought his first new car. It was a pretty blue Studebakers Champion for $800.00. Byron and Gen packed their things, filled up the car for 26 cents a gallon and headed to Iowa. Byron attended the Midwest Modern Shoe Training School from November to the end of May. Here Byron learned to repair old shoes and sew new shoes.
While living in Iowa, Byron and Gen took advantage of being away from home and visited all the places they never thought they would see. They traveled to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. After training was complete Byron and Gen returned to Idaho Falls where he got a job working for the school district. Byron worked for the school district for many years as a janitor and bus driver.
On Feb 27, 1958 they welcomed their first child into their hearts. Shelley Jo Burke joined their family followed by a son. Leslie Byron Burke was born on Sept 20, 1962 and died shortly after birth. On January 8, 1967 another daughter, Sheri Lynn Burke, was added to the family. During these years, Byron worked for Varsity Cleaners and then ran his own janitorial business.
He loved spending time with his family. They took many family trips together to California, Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico. Byron loved to camp and fish. He would take his family to Island Park every year for hours of fishing with Genevieve’s sister Lola’s family. Eventually the two families bought lots next to each other by Henry’s Lake. His favorite place to fish was Coffee Pot Rapids. I remember my Grandpa standing out in the river on a big boulder, the water swirling a spraying all around him, so he could drop his line into the perfect hole. I’m pretty confident that he out fished me every time we went.
When Byron’s family had grown he sold his house and spent the winters in Overton Nevada, the summers working at Buffalo Campground and the Spring and fall at their daughter Shelley’s house. During this time he spent time with his 6 grand kids, teaching them to fish, taking them out for hot chocolate and teasing them relentlessly. I recall my grandpa made the best vegetable beef soup and I was always welcome to share it with him. After many years of this Genevieve passed away on Dec 30. 1995.
In May of 1999 Byron met a woman by the name of Norma Reynolds at her brother’s house. As they ate dinner the two got talking. Norma mentioned how much she liked the Playmill in West Yellowstone. Byron happily volunteered to take her there sometime. A little over a month later, on June 30, 1999 Byron married Norma Reynolds. This would prove to be a great blessing in his life. Byron and Norma were happy to be companions. Norma took great care of my grandfather and I am grateful for the last decade that she has spent with him. Through Norma, Byron had 4 stepchildren, 10 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. They spent 7 years traveling to St. George in the winter. In 2003 they were called to serve a temple mission at the St. George Temple. They were the camp hosts at Rainbow lake campground for 3 years before moving into an apartment here in Idaho Falls. Byron has enjoyed living around his family for the last few years and getting to spend more time with his grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
On March 28 2009 Byron was called home. We will miss this great man who was gentle, loving, and had such a big heart.
In closing I would like to read a poem,
I guess the Lord just needed a hero
That’s why he called you home
Somebody who was just like you
Who was good and honest through and through
Someone strong and someone brave
Someone who stood up for what they believe
I guess the Lord just needed a hero
And that is why he called you home.
I can’t think of a better word to describe my Grandfather than a hero. He was a hero to his family by working to help support them. He was a hero to his country, when he fought in WWII. He was a hero to his Wife Genevieve, she said “He was the most wonderful man there is, He never loses his temper, he never complains, and he always works hard. He was a hero to his children, whom he loved dearly and did everything for. He was a hero to his grandchildren; he never forgot them on a birthday or any other holiday. He was a hero his second wife Norma, she said her children never worried about her after she married Byron b/c they knew he would take care of her. He was a hero to his friends and other relations, he was always willing to help in any way he could. He was a hero to me. I can’t count the number of times he pressed $20 into my hand and said buy your kids something or I want you guys to have this, even though I knew he needed it more than me. My grandfather was a quiet hero his entire life, and I know you all join me in saying thank you to this great man who has been a hero in our lives.
My Memory:
The summer between my 10th and 11th grade year of school, I helped grandma and grandpa move. They were moving from their trailer to an apartment in Rigby. I helped pack everything up and then cleaned the trailer from top to bottom. Afterwards grandpa took me out for breakfast as a thank you. When we were younger and, grandma and grandpa would stay at our house, grandpa would come over and announce that he was going to coffee in the morning at state what time. If we were the first ones up and over to the trailer before he left then he would take us with him. He would always buy us hot chocolate with whip cream and sometimes a scone. This time was a treat because it was full breakfast and just me and him.
I have a lot of memories with grandpa at Island Park.
I remember going fishing with Grandpa at the cabin in Island Park. Sometimes it would be just my mom, grandpa and me. I remember him accusing me of catching more fish then him and commenting how I was such a good fisher woman.
When we stayed at Buffalo Camp ground he let us help him clean the bathrooms and help on other projects he was working on at the time. We enjoyed helping him, most of the time, because then he would load up the back of the truck with the inner tubes and take us to the fishing dock so we could float down the river. Sometimes we would do it more than once in a row.
The one memory that sticks out the most is when I rolled down the hill with a bike. I had scraped up my knees and needed stitches in my chin. Grandpa volunteered to drive my mom and I to West for the stitches and after they were in declared that we needed ice cream.
I remember loving to go to town with grandpa and playing in his truck. He had a box that when you pressed a combination would play a tune. We sure got a lot of head turns playing it while going down the road.
I remember when Tallene and I were young. Every once and awhile we got to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's. It’s the first time I remember hearing someone snore and boy was grandpa loud.
As Kyle, Tallene and I will all attest, we always had fun helping grandpa clean the churches. I think we enjoyed it because we were able to clean and play in the room with toys.
I remember when grandpa was cleaning he cleaned some schools. There were times when he would pull up to the house and back of his truck would be filled with books. We were able to choose the books we wanted. Today I am still collecting books and wonder if grandpa had an influence on that now.
Me and Grandpa Burke!
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