OBIT: Floyd Allen BURKE, 1943, Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2008.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________

FLOYD ALLEN BURKE

Tragic Death of Floyd A. Burke B. & O. Fireman
Knocked Off Top of Tender by Low Bridge At Connellsville

  Floyd Allen Burke of Meyersdale, who six months ago accepted a position as 
fireman on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was killed instantly at 3 a.m., last 
Saturday in the Connellsville yards of the B. and O.
  According to information received by his parents and wife, Burke was on top of 
the tender of an engine to get ready to take on water when the train passed 
under an overhead Pennsylvania Railroad bridge.
  The bridge was low and struck Burke on the back of the head.  He was knocked 
from the tender and fell between it and the baggage coach.  A coupling, which 
diverted his fall, and threw Burke's body from the tracks, saved him from being 
ground to pieces beneath the moving train.
  He sustained a fractured skull.  His death is believed to have been 
instantaneous.
  Floyd Burke was the son of George and Margaret Smith Burke, his father being a 
well known barber of Meyersdale.
  He was born in Garrett, Dec. 7, 1916, and was aged 26 years, 5 months and 1 
day.
  For a number of years he was employed as a cutter in the Meyersdale Shirt 
Factory, and was president of the local union of the Amalgamated Garment Workers 
Association, after the shop was unionized following a strike two years ago.  He 
continued in his position there until accepting employment with the railroad 
company, six months ago.
  He is survived by his wife, who was Miss Ethel Shaulis of Bakersville, by his 
father, George S. Burke, Jr., who is serving in the medical corps of the army at 
an airport on Long Island, N.Y., and a sister, Mrs. George Brant, of Pittsburgh.
  He was a member of the Lutheran Church at Bakersville, the Knights of Malta 
and of the Meyersdale fire department.
  Funeral services were conducted at his late home on Lincoln Avenue, 
Meyersdale, at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, by Rev. Charles Shilkey, pastor of the 
Lutheran Church at Bakersville, assisted by Rev. John B. Warman, pastor of the 
Meyersdale M. E. Church.  Interment in Union Cemetery under the direction of W. 
C. Price.

Meyersdale Republican, May 13, 1943