Robert A. Burns

Dr. Robert Allen Burns, 75, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, December 12, 2011, at Missouri Delta Medical Center, Sikeston. He was born November 16, 1936, in Neodesha, Kansas, the elder son of Francis and Treva Lee Burns. He married Linda Lee Lattin on August 17, 1968, in McPherson, Kansas. Bob graduated from Neodesha High School in 1954, attended Independence (Kansas) Junior College, and graduated with a B.S. Ed. in English from Emporia (Kansas) State University in 1958. After teaching English in high schools in West Mineral and Eldorado, Kansas, he enlisted in the Navy where he attended OCS, and served as LT(jg) in both the Atlantic and Pacific, instilling his love of travel. Following discharge, he returned to Emporia to attain an M.A. in English and, the love of his life, Linda. He then taught at Wyandotte (Kansas City, Kansas) High School before beginning to teach at Southeast Missouri State University in 1966. In his thirty-five year career at Southeast, he taught twenty-six different undergraduate and graduate courses and seven additional graduate seminar topics. He earned a Ph. D. in English Literature from St. Louis University in 1974. He was a published poet himself, and he served as General Editor of The Cape Rock, a poetry journal, for seven years. He obtained national recognition and an NEH grant for the re-design of that journal. He was the university�s first Director of Writing Assessment and its first Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He also served as acting Chairperson of the Department of English from 1985-86 and as Interim Chairperson from 1994-95. After retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2001, Bob and Linda enjoyed traveling abroad to Egypt, China, Peru, France, the Baltic countries, France, central Europe, and the Mediterranean. Bob enjoyed all kinds of games, the more complicated the better, but especially chess and bridge. To the dismay of his wife, he was an inveterate collector: games, coins, comic books, CD�s, DVD�s (and more DVD�s). His sense of humor could be risqu�, his puns could be real �groaners,� but his gentleness and fairness were beloved by all. Bob had played trumpet in his high school band, and his first major in college had been theater. Music and the theater became life-long interests. For years, he and Linda held subscriptions to the St. Louis Symphony and Opera Theater of St. Louis. They traveled frequently to New York to attend plays, musicals, and opera (and their favorite chocolate shop). When the River Campus opened, they were regular attendees of performances. Bob truly enjoyed the arts as well as grubbing in the dirt to plant daffodils. Survivors include his wife, Linda Burns, of Cape Girardeau; his brother, Randolph (Nancy) of Fredonia, Kan.; a nephew, Roger of Sebastopol, Calif.; a niece, Sherri (Jim) Strawn, of Rose Hill, Kan.; and two great-nephews, Reed and Gavin, and a great-niece, Jessica. He was preceded in death by his parents. A memorial service will be held at 11 am, Saturday, December 17, with visitation from 10 to 11 am, preceding the service at Ford and Sons Funeral Home on Mount Auburn Road. Memorials may be made to Butterfield Youth Services, P O Box 333, Marshall, MO 65340 or to the Robert A. Burns scholarship at Southeast Missouri State University, One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.

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Robert A. Burns

December 12, 2011