Lillian (Bonnie) Burke (1919-2012)

Bonnie Burke, one of the Champions of LeeteLeet Genealogy, passed away May 5.  She was a talented writer and contributed several articles to the Leete Legacy, our now defunct (any volunteers?) Family Association publication.  She was a wonderful, caring person.  She was a great help to me in establishing her previously undocumented branch of the LeeteLeet family tree.  Following is her obituary, but it doesn't really enlighten us on her contributions to the family history.  Her family branch is its own tree in ancestry.com and some of her articles and findings are in that tree.  I will continue to collect her contributions and place them on our family association web site.

Bonnie Burke

Lillian L. Burke was born in Spokane, WA January 28, 1919. She was an Honor Student at John Rogers High School where her favorite subject was music. Her mother's maiden name was Lourene A. Leete. Her father's name was William D. Bonner. It was natural for everyone to call her Bonnie. she had an older sister, Lucy; and a younger brother, Bill; but Bonnie outlived the rest of the family. She was 93 years old when she died May 5, 2012 in Edmonds, WA.
After attending Kinman Business University, she passed a Civil Service examination and accepted an appointment to the War Department in Washington D. C. Her father worked for the Great Northern Railroad so she traveled on a family pass. She was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked December 7, 1941. Bonnie has been a 7th Day Adventist since March 1942.
In 1944 she moved to Glendale, California where she was employed at Glendale Sanitarium. It was there that she met Administrator, Clarence Burke. They were married in 1952. She was step-mother to his children. They moved to Sacramento, CA where she was Supervisor of a hospital steno pool. In 1962 they moved to Portland, OR where she was a Medical Secretary and Tumor Registrar.
In 1967 they moved to Seattle , WA. She became a Certified Medical Registrar and Tumor Registrar while working at Northwest Hospital. In 1980 she retired to care for her husband who was ill. He died in 1982.
Bonnie was an active volunteer at the South County Senior Center in Edmonds, WA. She became a member of the Senior Swingers there in 1983, playing clarinet in the band and singing in shows like the Lawrence Welk Program. She was an excellent drummer for two years, when a vacancy occurred.
Bonnie attended a Creative Writing class, taught by Marylyn Pedersen at the Senior Center, and became a published writer. Many of her memoir stories have been published in Nostalgia Magazine of Spokane WA.

Obituary: William Harmon Leete (2255)

Today I am going to put a new section on our Leete web site:  "Champions of LeeteLeet Genealogy."  Though the obituary doesn't mention his genealogist contributions to the family, Harmon Leete will be on this list.  I am saddened by this news.  

LEETE, William Harmon 
William Harmon Leete "Harmon" died on March 26, 2012 in Hartford, the city in which he was born on September 12, 1931 to William C. Leete and Doris Harmon Leete. The family moved from West Hartford to Longmeadow, MA, where he attended Longmeadow Junior High School. A loyal alumnus of Andover and Yale, he met his wife Betty on a blind date for the Yale Junior Prom when she was at Wellesley. Yale gave him his diploma even though he still owed a term paper on James Joyce, which he turned in after writing it while in the U.S. Navy aboard the carrier Intrepid. What he referred to as his "trade school" was Harvard Law, from which he graduated prior to his Navy service. On returning to civilian life he worked first with the law firm of Steele & Maxwell in Hartford, then for several different divisions of United Technologies, where he delighted in playing April Fool's day pranks. On one he posted a notice that the Otis elevators in the Gold Building, where UTC offices began on the 22th floor, would be out of service for ten days and that officers would be helicoptered to the roof and others who did not want to walk up could take vacation time. He traveled widely for UTC and also for pleasure, often with a group of four couples self-titled the "Boubalinas", named for a Greek heroine. 

A week prior to his death he was focusing on a trip to San Francisco for a Yale Class mini-reunion, and planning a trip down the Danube and to Turkey. 

After retirement from UTC he continued to practice law up to December of 2011, primarily as counsel to DeMaria Electro Optics, later known as Coherent Inc. 

He began rowing at Yale and continued throughout his life, primarily as a member of the Hartford Barge Club "Ancient and Honorable Four", coxed at one point by Brewster Perkins wearing tails and a top hat. Jeff Carstens, one of the four, would calculate with his slide rule what prize the Four would have taken had they been given an age handicap. After a knee injury he rowed with Riverfront Recapture, where he rejoiced in being relieved of carrying the boat to or from the water by other volunteers. 

No one enjoyed good food and drink more than Harmon; he was the hostess's delight, and belonged to the Hartford Club, the 1892 Club, the Madison Beach Club, a scotch-tasting group and a book club. He was an amateur astronomer who could spot a waning moon in a painting that faced the wrong way. He was a published and prize-winning serious poet, as well as an accomplished writer of funny doggerel and songs for all occasions. 

He loved skiing and sailing, calling his summer place "Yawl Come". A dedicated gardener, he chose law over farming so he could sleep later. 

He passed his sense of humor down to his four children, William Harmon Leete Jr. (Bill), Lisle Baker Leete, Russell Leete, and Virginia Leete Beach. He was blessed with five wonderful grandchildren, Christopher Leete, son of Bill and his wife Emily Dickinson, Zachary Leete, son of Lisle and his wife Lauri Semarne, and Gus, Max and Ben Beach, sons of Virginia and Charles Beach. He leaves two brothers, Robert Leete married to Susan Leete, and Richard Leete, married to Esso Leete. 

Using Ancestry.com

On Ancestry.com, the primary interface is a "tree" page that looks like this:

Ancestry.com provides a good explanation about how to use this interface.  Click here for the explanation.  For those who just want to look at the tree, it is best to read the section Family Chart and Report and use that view.  In a nutshell, in the picture above click on the "Family" button in the upper left corner of the default view.

If you have any questions, add a comment at the bottom and I will do my best to answer.  

Obituary: Lydia Leet Willey (1948-2012)

MILO, Maine - Lydia (Leet) Willey "Ma," 63, a wonderful mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and friend, went home to be with the Lord on the morning before her 64th birthday April 12, 2012. Ma was born April 13, 1948, the oldest daughter to Bernice (Astle) and James Leet. Ma was a woman of many talents; she loved to cook, loved to craft, and had a talent like no other when it came to floral arrangements and Christmas wreaths. She had a passion for wildlife and nature. She never passed up the opportunity to gamble, or to advocate for someone in need. She enjoyed watching the Red Sox and was always up for a good day trip. Ma's greatest joy and pride in life was her children. She equally shared her unconditional love for all four of them. Ma was predeceased by her parents; grandparents, Nettie (Baker) and Clinton Astle; brother, Raymond Leet; and her beloved husband, Millard Willey. She is survived by her sons, Richard and Tammy Andrick, and Jeffrey Andrick; daughters, Tracey and Everett Gray, Gail and Joey Spack; stepson, Todd and Susan Willey; dearly loved grandchildren, Richie and Josh Ireland, Miranda Royal, Cody Andrick, Chris Gray and fiancee, Morgan Royal, Savannah Stubbs and Emily Spack; and stepgrandchildren, Zach and Jacob Willey. She eagerly and anxiously awaited the arrival of her great-grandson, Brody Michael Gray. She also leaves behind a brother, Robert Leet; sisters, Lynn Allen and Susan Burke; several nieces, nephews, cousins and friends; and her beloved cat, Troubles. A celebration of life will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15, at United Baptist Church, Milo, with the Rev. Phil McGlauflin officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Community Health and Counseling Service Hospice, 1093 West Main St., Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426, where Ma received wonderful, compassionate care in her final months here on earth. A private graveside service will be conducted on Mother's Day at Evergreen Cemetery, Milo.

Gaining access to trees and stories- moving to a financial model to support future work on Leete genealogy

I have some 60 trees on ancestry.com in various stages of vetting.  I am permitting individuals to view the trees according to the criteria:

1. Leete/Leets or descendants
2. Understand the trees have errors in them and communicate the errors to me
3.  Will contribute pictures, stories, etc to those trees directly related to their ancestry

Finally, they will contribute a small amount to support the work.  (optional, but important)  I'll try to have more information on this last item; ie, how much, how to pay, what terms, etc. 

I'm still working on a viable business model for this effort.  I would appreciate any suggestions.  I can imagine that I might create e-books and charge a fee for access.  For example, the links on the web site would be restricted to those who have subscribed... Kind of like premium content.  Or I could charge for a customized book on your ancestry.

I should mention that one of my objectives is to transfer responsibility for each branch of the tree to someone in that branch who will maintain the information.