Ronald Burke

Ronald Ervin Burke, born February 8, 1958, died peacefully in his sleep at the Heywood Hospital in Gardner of apparent heart failure on August 13, 2014.

Born a Simpson in Pickford, Alabama, Ronnie, as he was known to family and close friends, officially became a Burke in October 1975. He graduated from Nashoba Regional High School that year then went on to work in manufacturing and retail grocery. He kept an active eye on politics and always was eager to share his observations.

Ronnie was baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist church June 1968 and the family will hold memorial services at the Gardner Seventh-Day Adventist Church at a later date. His memory will be preserved with the planting of Sugar Maple Trees in his honor at the church's Fellowship and Recreation Field.

Ronnie is survived by his mother Mary L. Burke, 103, of Gardner, brothers Maurice J. Burke Jr, of Lancaster, and Lorenzo Gardner, of Springfield, and sister Katherine Scheidel, of San Antonio, Texas. He is also remembered by a loving extended family of a niece and nephew, many great nieces and nephews and cousins scattered along the East Coast.