Named after his paternal great-grandfather, Ed was born March 18 1960 at the old St Joseph hospital in Omaha NE to Ronald Earl and Margaret Anne Johnson Burke. A premature birth, he was not allowed home for a month. His mother, Marge, made daily trips by city bus to visit him at the downtown hospital.
The family lived in a cozy bungalow with a large lot in Benson. Here, Ed began his lifelong love of dogs when, on his third birthday, he became the proud master of a German Shepherd puppy he named “Three.”
In 1966, in the first of several moves tied to dad Ron’s career with AT&T, the family relocated to St Louis. As he had done in Benson, Ed walked to his grade school in Florissant MO.
A couple of years later, he did the same in Overland Park KS. Here, Ed’s sister, Jennifer Ann Marie, was born. By 1972, the Burkes were in summit New jersey, where Ed’s youngest sibling Robyn Coverdale, was born.
Growing up in the suburbs of New York City Ed’s athletic skills attracted him to bowling, football and baseball. He played in the Pop Warner League for both of the team sports. His ferocity as a middle linebacker helped his New Providence NJ football team bring home a division championship and a postseason bowl victory in Rhode Island.
With Ed playing catcher, his baseball team was on the same trajectory until, at the last game, the team pitcher fell ill. Ed left home plate to take over on the mound, and helped the team win the championship.
Ed was blessed was a lack of self-awareness that quickly endeared him to many people. In one of the earliest examples of Ed’s ability to befriend all kinds of people, he brought to his youth football team a couple of African-American friends he’d made in Summit. While the previously all-white New Providence team may have been initially disturbed by the change, for Ed, it wasn’t “integration,” it was just having fun with friends.
From there, the tone and direction of the rest of his life was set. Ed’s physical size never kept up with the demands of sport and he found the daily routine of high school tedious. He dropped out, and soon after earned his GED. Throughout the rest of his adult life, Ed scraped by doing odd jobs and periodic construction work.
A free spirit and a generous soul, he always remained fiercely loyal to the friends he made. Many of them returned his loyalty, sticking by him as he wandered through life, too restless to stay in one place for very long. Addiction to alcohol accompanied him everywhere, leading to legal tangles and injuries that exasperated his loved ones but never shadowed his sunny disposition.
No matter where he went, his father’s native Nebraska was always the home Ed returned to. While in a close relationship in Omaha, in 1985 he had a son, Edward Howell. Later, in Polk county, he had a second son, Jacob Burke, with his then-wife. Ed’s addiction problems complicated family relationships, but his love for his family was always steady and strong.
Ed spent the last years of his life in Nebraska’s capital city, continuing a pattern of making friends who shared his appreciation for an unrooted lifestyle. He passed away a free spirit to the end.
Ed is survived by his father, his two sisters, and his two sons.