bout de papier, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2000) — Spring 2000 // Printemps 2000, p. 45
Along with his other friends and colleagues I was very sorry to hear that Lou Burke had passed on at the end of many months of coping with cancer, on December 29, 1999. The Service was held at the Ascension of Our Lord Church in Montreal on the last day of the year.
Louis D. Burke joined the Trade Commissioner Service from British Columbia with a small group in 1955. We enjoyed his company during the year of training and the cross-Canada industry tour. He had an interesting and satisfying career. After postings in Ciudad Trujillo and Santiago he was sent to Lima where he met and then married Maria Ines Lamas, a dress designer from Buenos Aires. They went on to serve in Sydney, Kingston, Buenos Aires, Berne, Madrid, Atlanta, Rome and also in Ottawa. Along the way they had three children, John, Carla and Adrian, to all of whom Lou was, and Maria Ines is, deeply devoted.
Lou had a strong appreciation of Latin cultures as reflected in his postings. After his retirement in 1988 he and Maria Ines formed the Canadian partner company of Interexpo Italy to organize export promotions abroad for Canadian industry in cooperation with the Canadian government.
He had a fine tenor voice and made a point of singing with at least one choir or musical society in each of his postings and in Montreal after he retired. He also recorded a Christmas CD for children. In the audience we enjoyed his singing and acting with the Ottawa Orpheus Society when we found ourselves serving together in Ottawa in mid-careers. His last public performance was in three roles in “Evita” in Montreal.
My strongest impressions of Lou are his innate and unfailing courtesy, his happiness, his optimism, and his loyalty, great qualities to take onward at the end of this life. We will miss him.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2000) — Spring 2000 // Printemps 2000, p. 45. Read the rest of this issue →
