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Judith Knox Peck Burnette
Jan. 24, 1939 - Sept. 13, 2009
Photo-Burnette
Visitation for Judith Burnette, 70 of Turlock, will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sept. 21 at Whitehurst, Norton & Dias Funeral Home in Turlock. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Berea Lutheran Church in Hilmar, followed by a reception in Fellowship Hall. Burial will be at Union Cemetery in Niantic, Connecticut at the convenience of her family.
Born on Jan. 24, 1939 in Hartford, Connecticut, she lived there until 1971 when Mrs. Burnette moved to Manchester, Connecticut. In 1988 she and her husband relocated to Hilmar, California. She worked there for almost twelve years at The Hilmar Times and The Delhi Express as office manager and staff writer. In November. 2000, she began working for Berea Lutheran Church in Hilmar as their office secretary and newsletter editor until her death.
In 1961 Mrs. Burnette graduated from Elmira College in Elmira, New York. She worked as a social worker, a parole officer, a probation officer, and a case worker. Mrs. Burnette was a policewoman for the Hartford Police Department until 1976. She was a member of the Police Union, the Police Benevolent Association, and she was the first woman to serve as vice president of the Hartford Police Athletic League for Boys and Girls. She also wrote an article for her college magazine about the role of women in police work.
She also worked as an accounts payable assistant at the Board of Education in Manchester, Connecticut from 1982 to 1987. Mrs. Burnette took several graduate school classes at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. For one of the classes she worked closely with a Hmong family who had recently resettled in Manchester, Connecticut. She also served on her high school reunion committee for several years.
She was a fervent writer of children’s and adult stories who had the hopes of becoming published one day. Mrs. Burnette was a member of The Society for Children’s Book Writers, a local writer’s critique group and the Writers Digest Book Club and WritersMarket.com. She was also a member of the Hilmar Grange #537 since 1990 and a member of Al-Anon since 1989.
Besides her passion for writing, Mrs. Burnette loved the ocean, enjoyed playing Scrabble, Sorry and Yahtsee, reading, crocheting, cooking, gardening, and loved to watch the hummingbirds outside her kitchen window and the other birds outside her bedroom window. She also liked talking to her family and friends on the telephone or the Internet.
Mrs. Burnette is survived by her beloved husband of over 25 years, J.D. Burnette. She is also survived by her loving sister, Gail Peck Isaacs of Cupertino; her three handsome nephews, Gary Isaacs and Glen Isaacs, both of Aptos and Daryl Isaacs of Capitola; two beautiful nieces, Bonny Ellegood of Santa Clara and Penny Hope of Tucson, Arizona; her maternal aunt and uncle Josephine and Don Lathrop of Niantic, Connecticut; several first and second cousins from Oregon and Connecticut; her stepson, Johnnie Ellison of Georgia, and her three lovely step-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her two loved poodles, Pewter and Lucy. She also leaves her loving friend Pat Lauri of Brookfield, Connecticut whom she has known since kindergarten days, and Elaine Bornmann of Delhi, along with many other friends on both the East and West Coast.
Donations in her memory may be mailed to Berea Lutheran Church, PO Box 430, Hilmar, CA 95324.