Elsie Burch Obituary

Elsie Lillard Burch

Elsie Marian Lillard Burch, 98, of Mechanicsburg, PA, died on Tuesday, July 9, 2014. She passed away in her sleep under hospice care at the Oaks Skilled Nursing Facility of Bethany Village after years of gradual heart failure.

Elsie was born November 12, 1915, in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Thomas Madison Lillard and Elsie (Hooper) Lillard. When she was in the seventh grade, the family moved from the Potwin neighborhood to Westboro. As a child she spent summers in Santa Barbara, California, with her Hooper grandparents. She graduated from Topeka High School in 1933 and was named the Queen of the All School Party. She attended Bradford Junior College, Boston, MA, and Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.

Having met by chance on a Hawaiian cruise with their parents in 1935, Elsie and Ernest Suhr Burch of Oil City, Pennsylvania were married on June 29, 1937 in Topeka, KS. They first lived in New Haven, CT, where Ernie attended Yale Law School, and in 1942 moved to the Harrisburg, PA area where Ernie practiced law. They later moved to a farm west of New Cumberland, and finally to a woodland home on the Blue Ridge Mountain. Since 1955, they spent family summers at Beaumaris on Lake Muskoka, in Ontario, Canada.

Elsie Burch was warm and welcoming to all. She was a gracious hostess, an accomplished homemaker, and a self-taught gardener. Her homes showcased her loves and talents. Elsie actively volunteered in the community around Harrisburg PA. During World War II she worked in USO Travelers Aid and Blood Donor Center. Over the years, she served on boards and held leadership positions with: the Harrisburg Symphony; Children's Home, Family and Children's Service; Visiting Nurses Association; Junior League of Harrisburg; Homeland; Week Day Church School; and Trinity Lutheran Church. She worked with Red Cross Grey Lady, Harrisburg Hospital, and also volunteered with cerebral-palsied children.

During her life, Elsie showed enormous strength of character and cheerfulness in the face of deep tragedy and personal loss. She lived and died with dignity and kept her sense of humor to the end. She will be remembered for her positive attitude, her endless curiosity about life, and her ability to find something remarkable and interesting in each new day. She will especially be remembered for her delight in keeping up with the lives of her family, and for the invaluable role she played in their lives.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Ernest S. Burch in 1999, her daughter Lynn Alison Burch in 1966), her son Ernest S. "Tiger" Burch, Jr. in 2010, her parents, and her two sisters, Mary Lewis (Phil) in 1980 and Sallie Dibble (Ernie) in 2000.

Elsie is survived by her son, John Lillard Burch of Lawrence, Kansas; John's wife, Judy; their daughters, Charlotte and Melissa Burch and Lauren Pearce of Lawrence; their sons, Tyler Pearce (Maria), Olathe, Kansas; and Jonathan Pearce (Kate), St. Paul, Minnesota. Also by her daughter-in-law, Deanne Burch, of Camp Hill, PA, Deanne's and Tiger's children: Karen (Eric) of San Francisco, Sarah (Greg) of Baltimore, and David (Theresa) of Philadelphia. Elsie had nine great-grandchildren: Naomi, Zed, Ari, Alex, Teague, Regan, Trygve, Aiden, and Henry. Also surviving is her brother, Thomas M. Lillard, Jr., Chicago, Illinois.

Memorial gifts to "Bethany Village Care Assurance Endowment Fund", 325 Wesley Drive, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. (717) 591-8018.

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