Mary Eva Burke

Mary Eva Cook Burke, 98, of Shelley passed away Sunday November 2, 2014 at her home of natural causes.

She was born April 1, 1916 in Tropic, Utah to Richard Ammon Cook and Ruth Gilger Cook. She was the second child of four and the only daughter. In 1927, at the age of eleven, her family left Utah and moved to Taylor, Idaho.  Her father saw an ad for fabric in a magazine for fabric scraps for fifty cents and purchased it for her.  She said she was “smitten” and that started her quilting and sewing talents.

Eight years later she met Charles Eugene Burke who caught her fancy, and they married on April 4, 1935.  They were the parents of nine children, one of which Eva delivered herself while her husband ran for help to get them unstuck on their way to the hospital.  They farmed in the Jameston area all their lives until Eugene’s passing in 2003.  They had been married for 68 years.

Besides her large family, Eva is well known for her quilting, sewing, crocheting and service. She quilted hundreds of quilts for her family and others.  She was an excellent seamstress and sewed all her children’s clothes from underwear to wedding dresses.  She taught her daughters to do the same.  Her last eleven years she has crocheted and estimated 3,000+ hot pads for family and friends.  If you went to her home to visit or serve her, you left with a set of hot pads.

She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has served in the Primary, Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association, Sunday School and Relief Society.  Together, she and Eugene served in the Idaho Falls Temple for eleven years.

Eva was employed at Penney’s for 17 years, retiring in 1979.  She served as a Pink Lady for the LDS Hospital in Idaho Falls.  Eva enjoyed her membership and associations with the women of the Daughter’s of the Utah Pioneers, Wolverine Camp.

Eva is preceded in death by her husband, Eugene; three sons, Wesley Eugene Burke, Roy Richard Burke, and Duane Evan Burke; two brothers, Richard A. Cook, and Chester Cook; and two granddaughters and one great granddaughter.

She is survived by three daughters, Elaine (Robert) Park of Provo, Utah; Nona (Larry G.) Thompson of the North Adriatic Mission; and Anita (Larry D.) Thompson of Ammon; three sons, Wallace (Jackie) Burke of Deming, New Mexico; Jay Burke of Idaho Falls; Glen (Diana) Burke of Ammon; 32 grandchildren, 96 great-grandchildren and 33 great-great grandchildren; one brother, Lamond Cook of Shelley.

Funeral services will be held Friday November 7, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. in the Taylor Ward Chapel, 1101 East 1250 North, Shelley.  Family will visit with friends Thursday evening from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Nalder Funeral Home, 110 West Oak in Shelley, and Friday from 10:00 until 10:45 a.m. prior to the services at the church.  Interment will be in the Fielding Memorial Cemetery.