Dorothy Josephine Burns

1950-2004

Dorothy Josephine "Dottie Jo" Burns, a lifelong Shawnee resident who dedicated her life to serving and working with people, died Wednesday, March 3, 2004, at her home. She was 53 years old. Memorial contributions may be made to Kansas City Hospice.

Mrs. Burns was born Dec. 10, 1950, in Kansas City, Kan. She is a 1968 graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School. She received her Bachelor’s in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Education; and her Master’s in Engineering, both from the University of Kansas, where she met her husband of almost 33 years, Robert Mather Burns

She served as an instructor of chemistry, physics and mathematics for two Kansas City-area parochial schools, was an emergency medical services training captain for the city of Shawnee and dedicated nearly half of her life as a civilian worker in the U.S. Army.

Before all of that, however, Mrs. Burns was a high school candy striper at Shawnee Mission Medical Center from 1965 to 1967.

Mrs. Burns student taught at Shawnee Mission East High School before accepting positions to teach mathematics at Immaculate Conception in Grandview, Mo. and chemistry, physics and mathematics at St. Joseph's school in Shawnee.

She would work 19 years in war games simulation and weapons system analysis for the Army. Mrs. Burns worked at Fort Leavenworth, in Washington D.C., at Ft. Monroe in Virginia and the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

In 1975, Mrs. Burns and her husband were among the first residents in western Shawnee to complete emergency medical training to reduce the city's response time west of Interstate 435.

"There was nothing out here, and it was 12 minutes for an ambulance to respond from in town, so we were able to give a lot of service to the people out here and provide much quicker response," Bob Burns said.

Eventually, Mrs. Burns would become the chief instructor for the entire city's emergency staff, rising up the ranks from technician to training captain during her 15 years on the Shawnee Rescue Squad.

"When the EMT thing came across, she jumped into it because that was her first love -- the medical area," Bob Burns said. "She spent a large amount of her time helping and working with people." In addition, Mrs. Burns taught CPR for the American Heart Association and Ewing Kaufman’s CPR Now program.

She was a member of the Shawnee Job’s Daughters where she served as Honored Queen and became a Majority Member. As an adult, she continued her work with Job’s Daughters, serving as Bethel Guardian and in a state office.

Services for Mrs. Burns, a member of First Baptist Church of Shawnee, were Saturday, March 6, 2004. She was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery, after services at Charter Funerals.

She was preceded in death by her brother, David Berry; her maternal grandparents, Florence and Clyde Ellis; and her paternal grandfather, Joseph Berry.

Survivors include her husband, of the home; two sons, Richard Burns and Michael Burns, of Shawnee; two daughters, Jennifer Robertson, of Shawnee, and Danielle Tyrrel, of Kansas City, Mo.; her sons-in-law, Matthew Robertson of Shawnee and William Tyrrel of Kansas City, Mo; her parents, Joe and Dorothy Berry, of Shawnee; her paternal grandmother, Muriel Hansen, of Leavenworth; two brothers, Donald Berry, of Boise, Idaho, and Dale Berry, of Overland Park; two sisters, Dru Casper, of Shawnee, and Dawn Murphy, of Raymore, Mo.; her mother-in-law, Analee Burns, of Bonner Springs; her father-in-law, Maurice Burns of Aurora, Co., and a close extended family.