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CLIFFORD BURKE

CLIFFORD BURKE

Long-time Fort Dodge, Iowa resident, Clifford Burke, died on September 23, 2023, at Presby­terian Man­or, Parsons, Kansas. He was ninety-six years old. A service was held at Presby­terian Manor Chapel on September 28, 2023. A funeral service will be held at the Mallard Methodist Church in Mallard, Iowa, on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at three PM. Funeral arrangements are through Gunderson Funeral Home in Fort Dodge, with interment at Rush Lake Cemetery.

Survivors include daughter Charlene Giles of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and sons Joseph of Parsons, Kansas, and David of Irondale, Missouri. Among those who will miss Cliff most are ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Clifford also leaves numerous nieces and nephews. Clifford was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph Ray Burke and Rosa (Harper) Burke, his brother, Donald Ray Burke, and his beloved wife of over sixty-eight years, Jeane (White) Burke.

Born on June 4, 1927, in Westminster, California, Cliff graduated from Hampton High School in 1946 while serving in the Army Air Force in the Marshall Islands. After enlisting in October of 1944 and serving three years, he attended Hamilton School of Commerce in Mason City, Iowa, where he met Jeane. They married on May 14, 1950, at the Little Brown Church in the Vale. Then he spent a short time working at Farmers Hybrid in Hampton followed by time at a CPA firm in Des Moines. In 1956 he moved his growing family to Fort Dodge, where he and Jeane resided for over sixty years.

Cliff’s God-given talents were many. He was especially gifted in computer programming. Largely self-taught, Cliff worked for Celotex, Sargent Engineering, Land O-Lakes and NEW Coop, eventually pioneering computer programs for farm cooperatives. He began his own company in 1982 and worked with coops in Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Always a champion for wisely stewarding money, Cliff volunteered his services on committees at First United Methodist Church and as secretary-treasurer of Fort Dodge Golden K.

Music was an important part of Cliff and Jeane’s family. They both sang in church choir for over fifty years and all three children, and most grandchildren, play instruments and sing.

Late in life, Cliff discovered his talent for writing. The family has been blessed by his childhood stories, which will live on.

Memorial donations may be made to Presbyterian Manor in Parsons, KS.