In loving memory of
Kathleen Burke

• May 13, 1951
• -
• April 06, 2024

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Kathleen Mary (Shaughnessy) Burke
Born May 13, 1951, in Bay Shore NY. Passed away on April 6, 2024.
Kathy lived a life full of purpose and generosity. Kathy spent most of her childhood on Long Island where she attended Catholic school before moving to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida for a while. Kathy moved to Thailand with her dad, mom and brothers and finished her high school at the International School of Bangkok. Kathy studied undergraduate work at Spring Hill college, SUNY new Paltz and obtained a Master’s Degree in Special Education Vocational Training from George Washington University in 1980 where she immediately began helping the less fortunate of our society. She wanted to teach the handicap youth life skills that made them develop a feeling of usefulness and belonging. That was not the practice of society while she grew up. Kathy helped to change that societal ill. She met and married Mark Burke on March 29, 1986, and began their family in Falls Church, VA and had two boys Brendan Patrick and Daniel Adam. Kathy worked at her vocation for 38 years. While raising her boys in Virginia and Florida Kathy really looked forward to retirement, which she did in 2013, so she could wake up when she felt like it and sit to have her coffee. Kathy sadly lost her first-born Brendan on January 22, 2020, after his long battle with alcoholism. Kathy is predeceased by her mother Helen, father Thomas (Bud), and brothers Jim and Tim. Kathy is survived by her husband Mark, her brothers Tom, Ken and Joseph Shaughnessy, her son Daniel, daughter in law Nicole, and granddaughters Skylynn, Dakota, Riley and Harper and a number of cousins, nieces and nephews. Thanks to the wonderful care at Halifax Hospice, Port Orange, after a 7-year battle against the ravages of cancer, she went peacefully and did not linger, which is how she wished it would be. By now Kathy has surely found Heaven’s thrift store and is enjoying thrifting with her mom and giving long hugs to our son Brendan.
Please remember this exceptional woman in your prayers.