Julie Burke, associate professor and chair of interpersonal communication at Bowling Green State U, died on October 30 at the age of 54. Her friend and colleague John Bowers has this rememberance.
I received word today from Julie Burke's husband, Joel, that Julie "passed away peacefully early this morning." I don't have biographical details, and they may be forthcoming from Bowling Green State University, where she was a faculty member for many years. She was diagnosed in August with pancreatic cancer.
I first knew Julie when we recruited her with a fresh Illinois Ph.D. to the faculty at the University of Iowa. She left Iowa to go to the University of Oregon, and she went from Oregon to Ohio when the administration dissolved the department at Oregon.
My daughter Jeanne lived in Eugene during Julie's years there, and when I'd visit Jeanne I'd always give Julie a call. On one of those occasions, after Julie already had agreed to go to Ohio, she made a date to meet Jeanne and me for lunch at a riverside restaurant on a Saturday. When Julie sat down at the table, she said, "Well! I did something really interesting this morning!" Jeanne and I asked what, and Julie replied, "I got married!"
She'd met Joel via their mutual passion for kayaking, a skill Julie had developed in Iowa City. Their homemade holiday cards always featured kayaking in some way. The 2006 card showed a couple in a ramshackle car tooling along behind a vanity license plate reading "2 D RIVR." I asked Julie why they'd chosen "2 D RIVR" rather than "2 A RIVR." Julie said that she'd checked with Joel and that "2 A RIVR" was already taken.
I'll miss her.
