Burke, Harry

Harry Burke

Services: Have been held.

Harry D. Burke, 88, died Saturday, May 1, 2004, at Roosevelt General Hospital in Portales.

He was born May 16, 1915, in Statesville, N.C., to Jim D. and Flake T. Burke.

At age 2 he moved to Portales with his family, and graduated from Portales High School. He married Mary Lena Hilliard on May 9, 1935, in Clovis. He worked as a butcher at the Lilac Park Grocery and at Grady’s Red and White Grocery in Portales until 1954, then moved to Roswell to be a meat salesman for Glover Packing Co. In 1979 he retired and returned to Portales and began a small business at his home making picture frames. Mrs. Burke died in September 2002.

A member of the First Baptist Church, he served as a deacon there.

Family members said he was a devoted family man, enjoyed family campouts, loved to play dominos and bridge, and was an avid walker.

He was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers, Hubert Burke, Flake T. Burke and Frank B. Burke; and by his wife Mary Lena Burke, who died Sept. 12, 2002, after more than 67 years of marriage.

Survivors include four daughters, Adelia Stewart-Devault (husband Hunter) of Livingston, Mont., Drusilla Trainer (Larry) of Irving, Texas, Harriet Damon of El Paso and Melissa Katterich (Rick) of Irving; 11 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Mary Morgan of Friendswood, Texas, Elizabeth Overstreet of Fort Worth, Texas, and Eulalia Phillips of Toronto, Canada.

The Rev. Philip Fike will officiate at the service. Burial will be in Portales Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Charles Crane, Jim Love, Larry Teal, Lawrence Dunn, Melvin Littlejohn and Ronnie Johns.

Honorary pallbearers are members of the Deacon Body of First Baptist Church.

Arrangements are by Wheeler Mortuary of Portales Inc.