Christine Patricia Burns, beloved daughter of Paul Callan Vincent Burns and Jeanne Marie Kelly, was born on May 12, 1955 in Hackensack, New Jersey.She was the fourth child of eight in the Burns clan.
Chris attended Berkley School in Westwood, New Jersey for grades K-3, then went to St. Andrews in Westwood through 8th grade. She graduated from Westwood High School in Washington Township N.J. in 1973. Chris served in the U.S. Army from 1974 to 1977 and received an honorable discharge. She married Declan Jordan, from Ireland, on June 6, 1978 and was divorced on September 9,1984. Chris graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey in May 1989 with a BFA in Visual and Performing Arts. She continued her education through many artistic and technical certifications, including an Associate’s Degree from ACC in Graphic Communications in 2009.
Chris had a myriad of jobs, ranging from cocktail waitressing at PJ Finnegan’s to several art-related jobs in which she could use her artistic eye and talent.She worked as a videographer at Samsung from 1998 to 2001, as a pre-press Technician at Hart Label from 2002 to 2003, as a package-design Coordinator at Whole Foods from 2003 to 2007, and worked at Austin Community College as a Web and Graphic-design Artist, and later as a Multimedia Developer from 2008 until the time of her death.
Chris had an eye for beauty, and would delight in a perfect painting or photograph, and enjoy the look, feel and cut of fabric or artistic décor.She found joy in the beauty of nature, and was childlike in her excitement of a day at the beach or a first snowfall. Chris also loved holidays, and would load up on candy to greet the neighborhood children on Halloween, wrap her front porch with beautiful Christmas lights, and never miss 4th of July fireworks, which particularly thrilled her. She also treasured good food, movies and music.
In addition to her love of children, Chris never met an animal with which she didn’t immediately bond. She loved her Doberman, Luna, who preceded her in death.She took in a neighborhood cat—Honey—after coaxing it into her life with treats and a soft cushion on the front porch. Chris took care of friends’ animals on a regular basis, as though they were her own.
Chris was very active in the Cedar Park 12-step community, and celebrated 25 years of sobriety on March 23rd. She lived her life by spiritual principles and touched many with her sweet spirit. Her wisdom, humor, grace, supportive words, and “kind eyes” will be much missed by her fellowship community.
Chris is survived by her loving brothers, the Burns Boys: Stephen, Michael, Kevin, Matthew, Dennis, and Kelly, and her loving sister, Patricia (Patty) Burns Connelly, as well as brother-in-law Kevin Connelly (Patty), sister-in-law Sandra Burns (Kevin) and companion Kimberlee Santo (Dennis). She is also survived by much-loved nephews: Kevin Burns Jr., and Timothy Burns, Liam Humphrey Connelly and Eamon Stephen Connelly, and by grand-niece Hailey Burns and grand-nephew Logan Burns.
A celebration of life will be held on August 18, 2018 at Unity Church of the Hills, on Anderson Mill in Austin, at 2:00 pm. A reception will follow. Please join us.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Power for Parkinson’s (https://www.powerforparkinsons.org/) or The Yellow House Foundation (http://yellowhousefoundation.com/).