Obituary of Eleanor Loretta Burcky

1LT Eleanor L. Burcky (Burns), U.S. Army Veteran, loving mother, wife, grandmother, and caring nurse, passed away on August 23, 2022 in Colorado Springs, CO just three days before her 102 birthday. Eleanor was born on August 26, 1920 in St. Louis, MO. She was the fourth of seven children born to Carl and Grace Burns. Eleanor spent her first twenty-three years in St. Louis, MO, where she attended elementary school, high school and graduated from Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in 1942. After graduation, Eleanor cared for patients at Barns Hospital and Jewish Hospital in various disciplines including pediatrics, scrub nurse assisting the surgeon to perform operations, supervised and trained student nurses in operating room techniques. Like many of her nursing school classmates, Eleanor joined the Army, went to boot camp, and in 1943 she was deployed to Adak in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The Aleuts were an important part of WWII and often referred to as the forgotten war. Some coverage of Eleanor's experiences can be found at https://www.nps.gov/aleu/ including stories from service members. We can never honor enough these great patriots and members of the greatest generation for what they have done for our country. Eleanor cared for solders at the 179th Station Hospital. One of her patients was a B-17 pilot Claude Burcky, who she married on December 25, 1945 on Fort Richardson in Anchorage, AK. Eleanor stayed in AK for several months before they moved to California. Eleanor continued her nursing career and loved caring for patients. She often talked about her career with family and friends. Due to limits on simultaneous active duty, Eleanor separated from the Army in 1946 as a First Lieutenant. She loved the Army and was upset that she needed to leave the service. Eleanor was very fond of everyone that she interacted with during her service years in the Aleutian Islands and California. In 1948, Eleanor began the formation of a beautiful family with her first born, Peter, followed by Pam, Paul, Pat and Perry. From 1948 until 1981, Eleanor was a stay at home mom of five children in a Christian upbringing. Eleanor's faith was very important to her and she channeled her children through a catholic education. In 1970, Eleanor and Claude retired from a thirty-two year commitment to the U.S. Air Force. Over this thirty-two years, Eleanor and family found homes in Roswell, NM, Omaha, NB, Atwater, CA, Spokane, WA, Honolulu, HI and Portsmouth, NH. In 1971, Eleanor and family moved to Colorado Springs, CO. Eleanor's ties to Colorado Springs go way back as she visited the Broadmoor in 1948 at age 28 with her newborn son, Peter. Travel was a big part of Eleanor's life as she loved to travel the country visiting her children in Florida, Washington D.C., Fort Collins, Texas, Michigan and Memphis. It was an extreme joy for her to visit and play with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Eleanor was an avid Bridge player and developed a robust game with the help of a lot of friends in Colorado Springs. She loved to play bridge and talk with friends. This was a major source of joy in Eleanor's life along with her children. Often Eleanor would play three times a week and travel to various friends' houses to play. We all wish Eleanor to get good cards in her next journey. She loved going to Las Vegas, NV with her son to attend computer conventions, see all the bright lights, people and gamble the slots with family friends. Eleanor was active in politics, and often worked as an election judge. She also was an avid listener of Rush Limbaugh. She got the whole family and the lawn maintenance crew to start listening to Rush. Eleanor was active in business with her son, and frequently visited Fort Collins, CO to participate in company activities as well as veteran events with other service members connected to the Veterans Plaza of Northern Colorado. Another extremely important activity for Eleanor was exercise. She walked miles throughout the Garden Ranch, Country Club and UCCS neighborhoods. She was also a member of the YMCA and participated in exercise classes and treadmill walking at the Garden Ranch branch. She developed many friendships at the YMCA and even got her son to join her in her treadmill routine. Eleanor often talked about how much she enjoyed going to the Y and spending time with her friends. Her 100th birthday party was a big hit, https://youtu.be/tWITQ-mWdmY with many smiles. As time moved on into 2020 and Alzheimer's impacts grew, Eleanor was able to get her exercise at home. Eleanor had an infectious smile and many of her family, friends, caregivers and others often commented on how pleasant of a smile she had. In lieu of flowers, please consider a Memorial Contribution to the Alzheimer's Association at alz.org, Holy Trinity at www.holytrinitycos.org or The Veterans Plaza of Northern Colorado at www.veteransplazanoco.org. The Alzheimer's Association and Eleanor's doctors at the UCHealth Anschutz Neurology Clinic were a great help to her family and caregivers on what to expect and methods of care for her multi-year struggle with Alzheimer's. Eleanor is survived by her children, Peter (Joyce) of Memphis, TN, Pam (Gene) Hall of Bellaire, MI, Paul (Cathy) of Naples, FL, Pat of Fort Collins, CO, and Perry (David) of Washington D.C.; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Eleanor is preceded in death by her parents, Carl (Grace) Burns; former spouse, Claude Burcky; brothers, John (Janice), Carl (Nedra), and Thomas; sisters, Margaret (Byron) Brown, Ruth (Charles) Yansen, Agnes (Hubert) Reichert; and son-in-law, Gene Hall. Eleanor's celebration of life will take place at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 3122 Poinsetta Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80907. Eleanor will be laid to rest at Pikes Peak National Cemetery, 10545 Drennan Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80925, with Military Honors. Services will be held on Thursday, September 22, 2022. Vigil will be at 10:30AM, Mass at 11:30AM, with burial to follow 2:00PM. For full obituary visit: tsfs.co. Events Rosary Thursday, September 22, 2022 10:30AM Holy Trinity Catholic Church 3122 Poinsetta Drive Colorado Springs,, CO 80907 Phone: 719-633-2132 Funeral Mass Thursday, September 22, 2022 11:30AM Holy Trinity Catholic Church 3122 Poinsetta Drive Colorado Springs,, CO 80907 Phone: 719-633-2132 Graveside Thursday, September 22, 2022 2:00PM Pikes Peak National Cemetery 10545 Drennan Road Colorado Springs, CO 80925 Phone: 202-632-8035