This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, James Burke, 70, born on August 17, 1945 and passed away on August 15, 2016. We will remember him forever.
Click on photos - on right - to enlarge and see captions.
Tributes
Leave a tributeIt was always a pleasure to visit with him and today I have warm memories to look back on.
Jim, you were a good friend and a dear brother.
So, when I saw him this past January at another such gathering and he mentioned that he had written a book and was hoping to get it published, I asked if he would let me look at it first. He kindly consented and agreed to let me give it a final polish. In the months that followed, we met several times and emailed and spoke often, as we worked to make the book ready for publication. I was fortunate to get to spend that time with Jimmy and to get to know him better through those working sessions and through his writing.
On the surface, "Death in Darjeeling" is a cleverly plotted, deftly written thriller in which I continually found new things to admire, including the varied and artfully drawn characters and the wonderfully described settings ranging from Darjeeling to Hong Kong and D.C. to the South Carolina Low Country. But for anyone who knew Jim Burke at all, it quickly becomes apparent that the book is also a warm and loving memoir of the Burke family's exploits in China and India, and a thoughtful account of Jimmy's own life. It is the work of a man who reflected deeply about his shortcomings and his virtues and in the end had liked what he saw. Many readers will enjoy Jim's book, but his family and friends will treasure it, because Jim Burke lives within its pages.
We met as freshmen at the University of South Carolina. He was this exotic young man with a British accent who had lived virtually his entire life in foreign countries. We had scarcely left the east coast, but he and my future husband, Jim, became fraternity brothers, and later brothers in arms.
We stayed in touch through letters and short visits, once in his Mother's beautiful Manhattan apartment. I think he visited us in every state in which we have lived. He attended our son's wedding in Knoxville, TN, and we had our last rendezvous in Abingdon, VA, sharing an evening at Barter Theatre and then a great meal together recalling special times and people from our pasts. When he called us a few months ago with the awful news of his diagnosis, he was essentially calling to say goodbye and though we e-mailed, we heard from him no more.
Jim lived a full life, travelling widely, enjoying his love of tennis, but mainly cherishing his friends and family.
We miss him already.
Lee and Jim Ley
Thank you for enlightened conversations with me across the divider between workstations. You are a kind and gentle soul and that was
reflected in your conversations. I thank you so much for thinking of
me and sending me those wonderful postcards from Paris. I shall miss them and you.
Janice
Eric Mosca
Leave a Tribute
It was always a pleasure to visit with him and today I have warm memories to look back on.
Jim, you were a good friend and a dear brother.
The Burke family in Macon, GA.
A True Sportsman and Friend
I met Jim back in 1988 when I came down to Washington from upstate New York to look for a job with the government. I was only working temp jobs and didn't know many people, so I joined the Annandale Sport and Health Club and signed up for a tennis clinic. Someone on the other side of the court would yell 'draft dodger' whenever I hit the ball in the group clinic. But I sensed the normally negative comment was not being said maliciously. It was as if he was saying, "I recognize you as a person of the '60s, same as me." That person yelling 'draft dodger' at me was Jim.
We started playing tennis together. In those days, we'd get a court as late as 10 pm and would often play at 9 pm on week day nights. That's youthful energy because both of us had to get up early the next day to go to our jobs. By that time I was working at the Commerce Department. Both us played with a number of different people. Jim worked hard to develop a good game. He hit a two-handed backhand very effectively and was very good at hitting backhand shots at the net. We continued playing tennis until January 2016 and really enjoyed the lessons we got from Kinde Tye, coach of St. Stephens-St. Agnes School, the last 5-6 years.
In the late 1990s, we started going to sports events, mainly Orioles games and also the Washington Tennis Tournament which we went to every year from 1999 to 2015. We saw some of the tennis greats such as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and others. We started going to Navy football games in 2003 and went to at least of couple of Navy games every year through 2015. Jim even went with his poncho in driving rain. We went to an occasional minor league baseball game as well as to college basketball games. We usually saw one Wizards and one Capitals game every year. The last event we went to was a Capitals game in early April 2016. At some point, around 2006, Jim's friend, John Kenney, and Nizar, started coming to some of the games. Going to all these sports events was a lot of fun. The experience consisted of planning for the event, figuring out who was coming, getting the tickets, getting to the game, and then watching the game.
All along the way, I was fascinated with some of Jim's experiences which he shared with me. I was impressed with the fact that he had lived and gone to school in India and Greece. I asked him a lot of questions about what it was like to grow up in these places. He told me at the suggestion of his father, he hitch hiked throughout the Middle East when he was 17 or 18, traveling through countries like Iran and Iraq and possibly Afganistan. That type of adventure wouldn't be possible in today's world. I found out later that Jim lived in Old Greenwich, CT, for a year. Old Greenwich was about 6-7 miles from where I grew up in Cos Cob, CT. Our elementary schools played against each other in baseball, although we were two years apart, so we would not have played in a game against each other. (Usually the sixth grades from the Greenwich elementary schools played against each other in an informal league).
Our interest in journalism was another thing that drew us together. I used to ask Jim a lot of questions about his family's work in journalism which was considerable and entailed much success. I worked for 10 years in newspaper in upstate New York and Connecticut but had to switch to government as it turned out. I recall Jim's story about meeting Willie Mays as an 11 year old. As someone who grew up in the New York area idolizing Willie Mays, I couldn't believe he actually visited the Giants' dugout and got to talk to Willie Mays, but there was the article from the New York Times with a picture of him and Willie Mays in the Giants' dugout and a story of him talking to Willie Mays to prove it. He kept that article and photo forever, I'm sure.
Another thing I admired was that Jim took trips on his own with tour groups to see some of the major tennis tournaments such as the Australian Open which he went to several times and the French Open. He had a way of getting along with people and fitting in well in different situations. He would tell me about the good time he had with the tour group at the matches and the experience he had exploring the city the tournament was in, whether it was Paris or Melbourne.
Jim's passing was very sad. The last time I saw Jim was in late May when we went to dinner and watched the Nationals game on TV at the restaurant. His friendship was truly appreciated and he will be greatly missed.