Mary Alice Burke

Sometimes you don’t know what a person means to you until they are gone. That wasn’t the case with the family of Mary Alice Burke.

Through 40 years of marriage to raising her only child to doting on her three granddaughters, she meant stability and love. Mary Alice was the center of their world.

Mary Alice, 91, died June 1 at Artis Senior Living of Mason after a long illness. She was a resident of Montgomery for 53 years.

“Grandma was very welcoming and cared for all of us,” said her granddaughter, Carmen Eck of Liberty Township. “She saw the joy in everything. Regardless of whatever she experienced, she loved it.”

A native of Chicago, Mary Alice moved to Cincinnati with her parents when she was two. The family settled in Norwood and in Cincinnati’s Evanston neighborhood. Mary was a life-long Catholic and attended the former St. Mark School in Evanston. She graduated from St. Ursula Academy then earned a bachelor’s from the University of Cincinnati.

A love of learning was evident when Mary Alice worked at a branch of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library while in high school. She remained an avid reader and fan of classic movies for the rest of her life.

Xavier University, sports and everything Irish were important to her as well.

She began her career as an elementary school teacher in the Cincinnati Public Schools for two years before her marriage to Paul T. Burke. She spent more than 20 years as a business manager for several prominent Cincinnati physician practices. Following the 2004 death of her husband, she worked in the office of Integrated Protection Services (IPS) in Cincinnati.

Mary Alice is survived by her daughter, Shannon (Dave) Eck of Liberty Township, Carmen, and granddaughters Colleen Eck of Columbus and Kelsey Eck of Liberty Township. Two nieces and a nephew also survive. She was preceded in death by her husband and her parents, William and Alice Walsh.

Visitation will be held June 3 at All Saints Church in Kenwood beginning at 12:30 p.m. with a Mass of Christian Burial at 1 p.m. Interment will be at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Montgomery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Queen City Hospice, 4605 Duke Drive Suite 220, Mason, Ohio, 45040.

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