Yesterday my family gathered to celebrate the life of my Grandfather (or Poppa as we all call him), Richard Burks. It was really hard to not be able to be there with my family, in Phoenix Arizona. I am so thankful for the internet, because even though I live 6000 miles away I was still able to see my Poppa one last time before he passed over webcam and tell him that I love him. I just wanted to post the eulogy my Aunt wrote on my blog because it’s pretty awesome. I love you Poppa and you will be missed very very much! <3
We are here today to celebrate the life of Richard Leon Burks. Richard was born in Shawnee Oklahoma on September 29, 1919 to Leon and Lilly Burks. He lived most of his youth in Texas and Oklahoma and was one of four children including his brother Bill and sisters Nancy and Dovie. Early in his life he became interested in automobiles and worked in that industry most of his adult life.
In 1940 Richard joined the army and served until the end of World War II. He was trained in San Louis Obispo in California then shipped to Wales to await the D-Day invasion. Even though he participated in five campaigns, landed on Omaha beach on D-3, and was part of the team that liberated Buchenwald, Richard never liked to talk about the war except for the funny things that he did. Once he sold a motorcycle and spent all of the proceeds on two women in Paris. Another time he packed up one of the huge Nazi banners that hung in the Berlin stadium and shipped it home. We are sure he planned on making some money selling it later but when he returned he found that his uncle had burned it. You can imagine how well that went over with him.
Richard loved the ladies. He proved that by marrying four of them. The first lasted less than a week when he was just 17. His father had the marriage annulled. He was married during the war to Evelyn and then after the war Richard married Mary Cowan. They had two children, Mary Antoinette who he called Toni after one of his “friends” from the Paris adventure and Nancy Christine who was named after two of her aunts. The family lived in Lubbock Texas until a divorce in 1961. Never one to stay single for long he then married Lois Irene and adopted her daughter, Cheryl. Richard decided that Irene needed a new name and he called her Rusty.
Dick and Rusty were married for 36 years until she passed away in 1997. They moved to Arizona in 1967 and were a great couple who entertained often. One of the family traditions was the champagne breakfast. Dick would grill a pork roast, melt longhorn cheese and cook biscuits. Rusty would scramble eggs and make “stuff” a sort of salsa to go on top. The family would drink champagne, mimosas, or red beer, eat like crazy and then sleep half of the afternoon. He was known for his barbequed ribs and his ability to put together a delicious dinner when it looked like there was nothing in the kitchen.
Richard was able to guess what was in his gifts before he opened them. He could do it even without even picking up the box. He would close his eyes and say, “um socks, blue and black ones” and be right or “it is metal and glass, it is a blender.” He liked a good steak and grilled salmon and any dessert that had lots of whipped cream on top. But only give him the real thing, none of that canned stuff.
Richard was a 32nd degree Mason and was active in the Kiva temple of the Shriners while he lived in Lubbock. He was a fan of football and Nascar. His favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys and his favorite driver was Jeff Gordon. He enjoyed baseball, became a D-backs fan and got to attend game six of the 2001 World Series.
Richard lived a long happy life and will be missed by his friends and family.
