Julie-Anne (Jay) Burke died in Dripping Springs, Tex., on March 1, shortly before her 88th birthday.

Julie-Anne Foote was born on March 19, 1922, in Concord, to Edith McCabe Foote and Charles Lincoln Foote. She attended Concord elementary and junior high schools and graduated from Concord High School in 1939. She attended the Boston School of Occupational Therapy and Missouri State College at Cape Girardeau. Following college Jay held a variety of clerical and administrative positions in business and the retail clothing industry.

In 1952 Jay Foote married U.S. Air Force Captain Robert F. Burke and began life as an officer’s wife. Bob was soon assigned to duty in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Jay accompanied him. Their two children, Kevin McCarron Burke and Shannon McCabe Burke, were born during this overseas assignment.

Jay took being an Air Force officer’s wife very seriously and devoted herself to raising her children and supporting her husband’s career as they moved from assignment to assignment, finally settling in Fairborn, Ohio, in 1970 when Bob was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force base and remaining there upon his retirement.

Jay’s life in Fairborn revolved around her family, friends and the community. She soon established herself as a “professional volunteer,” devoting untold hours to work with the Crisis Hotline, Fish Food Pantry and the Fairborn Fire Department Safety-Net Program.

Jay was not just generous with her time. She donated the funds to purchase Fairborn Fire Department’s first thermal imaging camera. She prized her leather Fairborn FD helmet and loved listening to the fire and police department activity on her scanner. Her final generous act was to donate her body to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where medical students are no doubt amazed and amused by the butterfly tattoo on her buttock.

Jay was a gourmet cook who took great joy in sharing the products of her efforts. She often had meals ready for friends who were ill, busy or unable to cook, and she loved giving desserts and snacks to the firefighters and her children’s friends. And, although she didn’t bake them herself, she always had dog biscuits for canines who happened by wherever she was living at the time.

Jay was truly an unforgettable character who was devoted to her friends and loved ones. Those who knew and loved her describe her as “a piece of Americana,” “an elegant and sophisticated woman of many surprises,” “stubborn and proud,” “someone who made me laugh, and could laugh at herself,” and a “cherished friend.” She was fiercely proud of her New England heritage and retained her characteristic accent until her death. When she has completed her service to the medical students, Jay’s ashes will be interred on Martha’s Vineyard, where she spent so much time during her youth.

Jay Burke was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Lt. Col. Robert F. Burke. She is survived by her sister Madeline Foote Kirschner of Bellville, Wash., and her four daughters and their families; brother Charles L. Foote, Jr. and wife Betsy of Louden, Tenn., and their two daughters and families; son Kevin Burke and wife Lynn of Vail, Ariz.; daughter Shannon Burke of Dripping Springs, Tex.; foster daughter Janice White, of Fairborn, Ohio; three grandsons, Steven Burke and wife Andrea, David Burke and wife Crystal, and Dustin Burke; two great-granddaughters, Hailey and Alexis Burke, all of Vail, Ariz. Countless longtime friends also will miss her loyalty, generosity and sense of humor.

The family is especially grateful and indebted to the kind and competent staff of Hill Country Care Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Dripping Springs, TX, who provided gentle and loving care (and an endless supply of coffee ice cream) to Jay during the last months of her life.

In accordance with Jay’s wishes, no services were held. Anyone wishing to make a memorial donation is encouraged to direct it to the Bluebonnet Auxiliary, P.O. Box 921, Dripping Springs, TX 78620 or to the Fairborn Fire Department.