Grandpa Burke was a woodworker even at the age of 99 when he went home to be with the Lord.
And he still had all 10 fingers!

He certainly didn’t have an easy life and had to experience losing his first and second wife, grandma Genevieve and grandma Nora, his son Brian and daughter Aurora. But despite all those tragic losses he was a faithful servant of Christ until April 13 2019.

As cliché as this may sound, the storm that had turned the mid-day skies an ominous dark grey, suddenly calmed down and in the moment he drew his last breath, a ray of sun light broke through the clouds right into the hospice room we were in. I wasn’t a believer at the time but I still felt a special presence in that moment.

Born December 8 1919 in Grand Rapids Minnesota he lived in many places before putting deep roots in Allegan Michigan (south of Grand Rapids Michigan). He spent his last years down in Jacksonville Texas where grandma Nora was from.

He started making puzzles back in his 20s when he was a grade-school teacher and never turned back. There were puzzles of all kinds of woods, various sizes; including the world’s largest one made out of large timber, each piece taller than the 12 year old me. That’s actually when I first met my grandpa because I used to live on the other side of the globe!

He loved to make puzzles to give away to anyone and everyone that asked for one.

His puzzles can be seen at the Allegan Fair Ground’s historic village in Allegan MI and the Vanishing Texana Museum in Jacksonville TX (I think)

He was happy to be picked up by the local paper and you can see the article here

Special thanks to Monocurate for digitalization of these old family photos