Patricia Burke

Patricia Marie Burke passed away on February 21, 2025, in McGregor, Texas, lovingly surrounded by her daughters and husband Walter. Born May 9, 1926, to Orrin Leonard and Clara Estelle Snow Converse, Patty grew up a city girl in Jackson, Michigan with four brothers. After attending Jackson Business College, she married Walter Martin Burke, a dairy farmer, on March 2, 1947. Their love for each other remained solid, true, and steadfast for all of their nearly 78 years. 

Pat soon adapted to farm life in Addison, Michigan. Besides raising a passel of daughters, she and Walter welcomed more than a dozen exchange and university foreign students, fostered children, and volunteered as Hillsdale County Fair managers, Kiwanis, Meals on Wheels, and long served as a 4-H leader. She was very proud of her work as a Michigan State University Extension Nutritionist. She and Walter traveled across the United States, Europe, Russia, and Egypt, often representing farm organizations. They built a house in McGregor, Texas, in 2000, sold the centennial Addison farm and bought a house in Holland, Michigan, with daughter Deanna in 2005, and later moved into Heidi’s McGregor farm in 2017. Patricia was forever curious, was a Rosicrucian for many years, and kept up on current events and news about our large extended family. She was funny, feisty, and not afraid to share her opinion. A voracious reader, she was reading about a book a week and still texting people up to the time of her passing. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Orrin Layton Jr., Jack Leland, Jerry, and James Leonard, and the oldest daughter of the Burke girls, Deanna Marie Hansen, who sadly passed in 2019. Surviving are husband Walter, age 100.5, daughters Pamela Burke, Deborah Leonard, and husband Mark, Sandra Slowey and husband Dave, Rebecca Burke, Heidi Foster and husband Ottis, Martha Burrell and husband Harold, 12 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. 

A special thanks goes out to her Hospice team and caregivers. A memorial will be held in Michigan in the future when, once again, like on her 90th birthday, we can sing her favorite song, “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).” She was the heart and soul of our family, and she will be dearly missed. Memorials may be sent in her name to McGinley Memorial Library, Meals on Wheels, or 4-H.