Obituary of Maura B. Burke

Maura Bridget O'Neill Burke, 70, of Goshen, N.Y., died Thursday, February 9, 2023 at her home. Maura was born on July 7, 1952 in Yonkers, N.Y., the eldest child of Maureen Corley and Robert O'Neill. She was a graduate of St. John's School, the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula, the College of New Rochelle (B.A.), and Long Island University (M.A.). As the eldest of six children, Maura became a caregiver at a young age, a role she would maintain all her life. Friends, neighbors, and teachers of the Marble Hill and Kingsbridge neighborhoods identified her goodness early on. When Pope Paul VI visited New York in 1960, the Sisters of St. John's School dressed Maura as a nun for a pageant, perhaps hoping to inspire a future vocation. Alas, when Maura was 15, she met a young man from Fordham Preparatory School, which led her to a life of service to her family, students, and friends. She married that young man, John F.X. Burke, on June 20, 1976. Wed for nearly 47 years, they were known as 'John-and-Maura,' a single entity of complementary parts. He told off-color jokes, and she apologized on his behalf. He played the guitar and piano and led sing-alongs at every gathering, and she sang along, until gently reminding him that it was time to go home. When she was sick, he never left her side. They raised their four children together first in Tuxedo Park, N.Y. and then Chester, N.Y. From her earliest days helping to care for her siblings to later becoming a hands-on grandmother, Maura led a life chiefly but not only defined by devotion to her family. She was kind and unselfish, and uncommonly beautiful. She was passionate about history and good books, Irish plays, and politics. She could have boasted of her intelligence and prodigious memory, but she did not stoop to bragging. Her friends were many, and the time spent in their company–raising children, sharing the sorrows and satisfactions of work, vacationing together, whiling away late nights at the dinner table–always brought her joy. And she adored beauty, from fine art masterworks to the flowers in the field. Maura worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1972 to 1980. She began her career selling memberships to patrons in the Great Hall. She then worked in the Architecture Department, followed by the European Paintings Department before eventually becoming the executive assistant to the Director of the museum, Guy Philippe de Montebello. When she left, two people were required to replace her. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Maura became a teacher, working for several years as a substitute before serving as a fourth-grade teacher for the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District from 1994 to 2015. Maura was also a Union Representative for the M-W Teachers Association, successfully advocating on behalf of her co-workers during contract negotiations. For her excellence in the classroom and mentoring of new teachers, she was honored with the district's Teacher of the Year Award in 2015. While she guided hundreds of children over the shoals of state-mandated tests, her true vocation was to inspire her students to develop a learned curiosity, to help them to creatively interpret the world. Among her favorite lessons were those on local history where she could open students' eyes to the Lenape footpaths underneath the asphalt and imagine Dutch schooners plying the Hudson. She is survived by her husband, John of Goshen; her children, Sean and wife Elizabeth of Newark, N.J., Bridget and husband Rey of Brooklyn, N.Y., Deirdre and husband Sebastien of Monroe, N.Y., and Claire and husband Christopher of San Francisco, CA; her five grandchildren, Jack Desrochers (10), Mary Desrochers (7), Rose Desrochers (2), John Ronquillo Burke (2), and Frances Burke (1); three brothers, Robert O'Neill, Brian O'Neill and wife Mary, and Kieran O'Neill and husband Gil Bellaran, all of Savannah, GA; her beloved aunt, Kathleen Corley Murret of Denver, CO; nephews, Kevin, Brendan and Brian O'Neill, and Timothy, Patrick, Michael, Paul, Jeffrey, Timothy, Joseph, Daniel, Patrick, Christopher, Andrew, Brian, and Ryan Burke; cousins, Patricia, Claire, Cecilia, and John Murret; and a generation of former students forever stamped by her work as an educator. Maura was predeceased by her parents, brother, William O'Neill, and sister, Sheila O'Neill. A wake will be held Monday, February 13th from 1-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. at the Donovan Funeral Home, Inc., 82 S. Church Street, Goshen, N.Y. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, February 14th at 10:00 a.m. Maura's family wishes to thank Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties, Inc., for the care, comfort, and guidance provided to Maura and her family in her last days. Labor is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul, Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil. O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance? -W.B. Yeats, "Among School Children" (1933)