Jeff Burke was born on September 15, 1965, and entered the Lord’s presence on September 8, 2017, at the age of 51.
Jeff is the son of Paul “Gene” Burke and Diane Burke, who are already with the Lord and have welcomed Jeff to his eternal home. He has one brother, John Burke. Jeff grew up in Emlenton, PA in a rural country setting where he learned to love the outdoors and activities such as hunting and fishing. Jeff attended AC Valley High School and graduated in 1983 before joining the military.
During his military career, Jeff served in multiple countries, including South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, the Netherlands, Germany, Bosnia, Croatia, Kuwait and Iraq. Jeff served in the USAF from 1983 until his acceptance into the US Army Warrant Officer Flight Program in 1994. He earned his basic Aviator wings in October 1995 and went on to earn an aircraft qualification in the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in December of that year. Jeff’s first deployment was to Tuzla Bosnia for Operation Joint Forge from March to September 2002. During his deployment, he was handpicked to be one of six pilots to provide direct support to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Jeff was deployed twice for Operation Iraqi Freedom, participating in numerous combat operations, including Operation Joint Resolve. Jeff retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 in lieu of promotion in July of 2007 after 24 years of Active Duty Military Service. His awards and decorations include the Combat Action Badge, US Army Senior Aviator Badge, USAF Senior Munitions Maintenance Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (8), Army Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal (2), Army Achievement Medal (4), Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Good Conduct Medal (3), National Defense Service Medal (2), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, NATO Medal and numerous other ribbons. After his retirement, Jeff went on to continue to serve those around him as a Life Flight Helicopter pilot for Air Methods Corporation.
Jeff was a beloved husband to Dina Cellan Burke, who he married on April 29, 2005, and has two beautiful children, Isabelle, age 11, and Jason, age 8. The family has resided in Clayton, NC since 2009. Jeff was passionate about his family and deeply proud of Dina and their children. He enjoyed teaching them about the outdoors and the things he learned as he grew up. Jeff was motivated to ensure that his family had opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and worked diligently in that regard.
Jeff was a great husband, father, friend, and patriot. He would always go out of his way to help those in need and made the time to reach out to friends and family, simply to check on them. It suited him well to be able to help others, both in military and civilian life. Of all the things that Jeff had done and seen over the course of his life, the most eternally significant was choosing to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It is his hope that we all make the same decision, so that one day we will all be together again forever.
The family will receive friends at First Presbyterian Church in Smithfield on Monday, September 18, from 6 to 8 PM. Funeral services will be held at the church on Tuesday, September 19, at 11:00 AM followed by burial with military honors at 2:00 PM in the Eastern Carolina Veterans Cemetery in Goldsboro.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at parrishfh.com.
