Anna Burke, 98
Anna Eileen O’Halloran Burke was known as the loving matriarch of her family, a Noyac mother of 5, grandmother of 13, and great-grandmother of 14. Mrs. Burke died on Feb. 14 at Southampton Hospital, surrounded by her sister and daughters. She was 98, and her family said her death followed a weeklong stay at the hospital.
She was born on Jan. 22, 1918, in Gardiner, Me., the oldest of 10 children of Stephen O’Halloran and the former Margaret Lally. They soon moved to Prince Edward Island, Canada, and she was raised on the family’s potato farm, where she would help out with chores such as cleaning potatoes and milking cows. After graduating from high school, she headed to New York City at the age of 18.
While there, she met her future husband, Edward J. Burke, at a dance at a Catholic church in 1938. They were soon married, and moved to Hempstead, where they raised their five children. In 1940, shortly after visiting a cousin who owned McErlean’s Noyac Deli, Mr. and Mrs. Burke bought a bungalow in the Pine Neck area, where they spent their summers.
They became year-round residents of Noyac in 1978, after Mr. Burke retired from his home-improvement business, East Coast Industries. They enjoyed helping out at the Salty Dog restaurant, which one of their sons, Judge Edward D. Burke Sr., bought in the 1970s when it was known as Lenny’s Steak House. It is now the Waterside Condominiums. Mrs. Burke’s husband died in 1981.
Mrs. Burke belonged to St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor and was a member of its women’s group. For five years she was a volunteer at Southampton Hospital.
“She really was the matriarch of the family,” one of her daughters, Terri Burke-Doyle of Noyac, said. “She kept the family unit very strong and close, and absolutely lived for her kids. She was a great family lady.”
Mrs. Burke leaves a sister, Frances Dykens of Port St. Lucie, Fla. In addition to Ms. Burke-Doyle and Judge Burke, she leaves three other children, Robert Burke of Rocky Point, Kathleen Burton of Noyac, and Sharon Corridan of Mattituck, as well as her 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
A service for Mrs. Burke was held on Feb. 17 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A funeral Mass was said last Thursday at St. Andrew’s, with the Rev. Peter Devaraj officiating. She was buried at St. Andrew’s Cemetery. The family has suggested memorial donations to the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, P.O. Box 2725, Sag Harbor 11963.