Stewart Anthony Burke

Sending my condolences to you and your family. Please take comfort in knowing that soon God will get rid of death itself. Revelation 21: 4 And at that time we will have the opportunity to see our loved ones again, right here on the earth. Acts 24:15 Something that I personally long to see. I hope these words help you get through this difficult time.

To My Daddy

My dad was my first hero. He taught me what it truly meant to be loved by a father. He was always there for us. He was a family man and his family was the most important thing to him.

He always took the time to spend time with us, even when we were little. I remember Saturdays being awakened by his tickles. And Sunday mornings when we would all get dressed up and go to church as a family. And evenings spent in his lap after dinner with him teaching me to read the time on a small blue tin clock with little red arms & yellow numbers. He was our biggest fan and always encouraged us to dream & pursue those dreams. He always wanted the best for us and was always looking out for us and for a way to help us, trying to impart his knowledge and wisdom.

For many years before my mom passed away, I watched my dad take care of her, day after day, year after year, with such devoted and loving care, with not one word of complaint or hint of resentment. The doctors often marveled at how long my mom survived and commented that it was really only due to the attentive care that she was getting from my dad. I’ve never seen such a tender and devoted expression of care and love from one human being to another. He was my hero again then too.
After my mom went home to be with the Lord 24 years ago, my dad was so lost without her –he missed her so much. I would often catch him looking lovingly and longingly at her pictures. But he didn’t dwell on that. He found a reason to keep on living. He was my hero again then too.

My dad loved trains. He used to jump & ride them as a kid. One time we were talking about how life was a like a train ride. I agreed and said that at some point you're going to have to get off the train & where you get to get off depends on where your ticket is punched for. He said he wasn't worthy to go where mommy is. I told him that none of us are -we only get to go there because the Father loves us so much He made a way for us to come back to Him -through the sacrifice of the Son. And urged him to make sure he got his ticket punched to go to the right place so he could be with mommy again. He told me he would and I believe he did as he seemed to have much more peace after that.

My dad had an absolute love for life, an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge, and a passion for adventure. He loved history, as well as exploring new and exotic places and when he couldn’t get there in person he would explore them through the pages of a book or magazine. Now he’s reunited with my mom and they are exploring all the vast wonders and glory of heaven. He got to see Jesus face to face on Rosh HaShanah –the Jewish New Year! But he left us with a great inheritance of love and a rich legacy of faithfulness. It was because of the love of my dad that I was able to so easily accept the love of God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son and to know that He is a good God and always means good by us.

My dad gave us treasures of immeasurable wealth through the love he showed our mom and that he gave to us. It is an honor to have been his daughter. I love you my daddy.

Eulogy for our Dear Daddy.

Thank you all for joining us as we send off our dear father, Stewart Anthony Burke. To many, he was Stewart, but for his 3 girls, Nicola, Karen and myself, he was DADDY, POPPY. and DADSIE. To his grandson, Alex he was POP. And to our adopted sister, Gillian, he was DADDY B. No matter what we called him, he was the best father any child, young or grown, could ask for. From childhood to adulthood, my friends loved and embraced him like their own father. I often told him that he was the BESTEST DADSIE EVER IN LIFE! That always made him smile from ear to ear.

As I grew into adulthood, our relationship evolved into a very close friendship when our mother took ill, and especially when she went home to be with the Lord. We cried together. We laughed together. We were each others support. The best part of our friendship is that I was his friend as much as he was mine.

He was the go-to guy for everything… like a walking encyclopedia. He was a history buff, a geographer, a science geek, a math wiz, an auto-mechanic aficionado, a political guru, a carpenter, a horticulturalist… he had an insatiable passion for reading and knowledge.

However, his true passion was his family. No matter how old we got over the years, he never stopped being a father to us. I would often tell him that his job a parent didn’t end until he did. Nicola told him while he was lying in the hospital bed that he couldn’t leave as he hadn’t finished raising her yet. Well, I suppose your job is done now, daddy.

I was talking to a very dear long time family friend who was sharing with me how she marveled at the way he took on the role of mother and father when mummy got sick. He became quite the master chef. Considering, back in the day, he didn’t know you had to open the can of beans before putting the can on the stove to heat it up. It was not a pretty sight. He sure came a long way from then.

He was quite the family man. I remember as children living in Jamaica, he would come home from work to have lunch with us when we got home from school. He loved his girls. He always said he had 4 girls, included our mother. We went everywhere with our parents. Business trips always turned into vacations for us.

I can’t go on without telling you a little about how the story of our family began. Daddy was born and raised in Jamaica and the eldest of 3 children followed by his sister Myrna and brother Ian. They were raised by loving parents, who ingrained a strong sense of family in them. He had quite an adventurous childhood growing up on farms and sugar cane plantations. The two boys had very vivid imaginations and healthy appetites. They built forts and blew them up… literally, with dynamite. The company he worked for in his late teens would have these spectacular parties. At one particular party, his supervisor knew a young girl who worked in the medical division in a different city, and thought they should meet, so he introduced him to Norma. They were 18 years old. They married at 23. A few years later they had Nicola, then Karen and then me. The adventure continued with his beloved Norma by his side and then his 3 girls. I know how much his soul missed his sweetheart’s light in his life every moment of every day since she passed.

Our life in Jamaica was a good one, until things changed. The decision was made to depart and make the bold move to the US. I think it was the scariest thing Daddy had ever done in his life. He never let on, but I know making the decision to up-heave his family and move to a foreign land had to be the most incredibly brave and courageous and terrifying thing for him.

In his latter years, he kept active, as much as his stamina would allow. He would go to the nearby mall to walk several days a week befriended other fellow senior walkers. Karen and I had the pleasure of meeting one of them. He told us that he enjoyed talking with Daddy, and that he marveled at how much he knew about so many things. He would solve the world’s problems, and talk politics … politics was his favorite topic of discussion. And they talked about their families and homelands. He will be sorely missed by them.

The outpouring of love and admiration is very heartwarming and to know that he had such a positive impact on so many people’s lives. He is smiling down from heaven seeing all of you who flew in, drove in, and even face-time in, to give him a fitting send off.

On Father’s Day in 1990, we gave daddy a beautiful white leather-bound bible dedicated to him by his 4 girls. He kept it on his nightstand in the box it came in, where seemingly it never moved. Several nights ago I took out the bible and was reading the dedication pages. Then I noticed he had several pages bookmarked. The one that caught my eye was a napkin that he wrote, “Salvation offered freely for all. Isaiah 55:1-11” That brought so much joy to my heart. I know that we will all be reunited once again in heaven where there are no tears or sorrow, but joy and peace everlasting.

My Dadsie, my buddy, my confidant, my best friend. I miss you beyond words. Our hearts are shattered in a million pieces, but we know there is hope for a bright tomorrow and just knowing that you are in heaven watching over us, brings us comfort. You are once again hand in hand with your beloved sweetheart. We love you, daddy & miss you even more.