Remembering Grandma Martha

For those of you just hearing about my mom's journey heavenward, I wanted to include this tribute (from her obituary, published in the Las Cruces Sun News).

Ps 118:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His faithful love endures forever.

Martha Lou Burke, cherished mother and wife, friend and nurturer to all she knew, God- follower and God-friend, ended her courageous battle with cancer on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, and entered the arms of her beloved Lord.

Martha was born in El Paso and raised in Southern California, where her father, a German immigrant, trained other airplane mechanics at LAX in the budding years of aviation. Her high school years were filled with weekend cable car trips to the beach with her brother Peter and summer trips to Christian life camps, where she met Jesus Christ. Her mother, intrigued by the joy and peace she now saw in her daughter, came to follow Christ through Martha and the two shared a passion to introduce others to eternal life in Him, a calling they lived out well. She earned a degree in Christian Education from Biola University and used her skills in later years at Mrs. Black’s Kindergarten and in raising her three girls.

At 29 years, Martha married Francis M. Burke, a farmer from Las Cruces who she loved well for 46 years. Balancing the pressures of apple and pecan harvests, annual crop loans, payrolls and taxes, Martha worked tirelessly assisting her husband in running the farm. Besides family and farm, she spent herself in reaching out to the poor and needy, in praying for her friends, and sharing the good news of salvation and redemption through Christ to those in prison. As a daughter, for twenty years, she joyfully cared for her mother Helen, who suffered a long fight with Alzheimer’s disease.

Martha’s last years may have been her best. One of her daughters finally married and at 73, she became a grandma. As her battle with cancer ensued, she was surrounded by all the love and care she had poured out on others. “It’s so wonderful. I am so loved,” she would say. “I love living life. I have such freedom. Jesus has changed me.”

Martha cherished her friends at Women’s Aglow Fellowship and greatly appreciated their love and prayers. Her work with the Women’s Auxiliary for the Gideon’s and Open Doors Prison Fellowship brought many people to Christ. She is grateful to her caring oncologist, Dr. Rauth, and for the alpha-lipoic acid treatment offered by Dr. Berksen that greatly improved her quality of life in the last month.

Martha is survived by brother Peter and sister-in-law Amelia Landsman, sister-in-law Ondina Landsman; brother-in-law and sister in-law Bill and Mary Ann Wheeler, husband Francis Burke, daughters LuAnne Burke, Esther Burke, and Rachel Miller, son-in-love Mark Turner Miller, grandsons Abraham Frank and Samuel Raymond Miller, and many beloved nieces and nephews. She has been met in heaven by her parents, Ludwig and Helen Landsman and her younger brother Frank.

All who have been touched by her life have been blessed. We will never forget her spontaneity, her love for life, and her joyful, childlike faith.
A celebration service will be held on Sunday evening at New Covenant Fellowship, 20 Holy Cross Rd, 88047. A viewing will precede the service, from 4 to 6 pm. The following morning, June 13 at 9 am, a graveside service will be held at Hillcrest Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be given to Prison Doors Inc., PO Box 2790, Roswell, NM 88201.