A life of service to others was important to Janice Burns. That was one of the values she passed on to her three children.
“It wasn’t something that was verbalized,” said her middle child, son Tom, 50, of Festus. “It was more of a lesson by example. It wasn’t preached to us, but it was just the way she lived her life.”
Mrs. Burns died Oct. 26 at age 76 of complications from breast cancer. Her only daughter, Beth Burns, died four days later at age 52, following a nearly two-year battle with ovarian cancer.
For both women, service to others was a central part of their lives.
Janice Burns was a longtime elementary school teacher in the Festus School District; her daughter worked for Ameren Missouri and was involved with a number of charities.
“My mother was a stay-at-home mom until my brother was born,” Tom said. “Then she went back to college and got her teaching certification.”
His mother taught junior high social studies for the first two years, then switched to third grade, where she spent nearly all the rest of her career..
Janice also served for more than a decade on the Festus Board of Education, the last few as its president.
“I think her biggest contribution (to the board) was the 22 years of teaching experience she brought to it,” Tom said. “She knew what it was like in the trenches, as far as being a teacher and what they have to do in order to provide quality education.”
Aside from papers that needed grading, Janice didn’t bring work home with her much.
“When she was home, she was just Mom,” Tom said. “She liked to read. After she and my dad (the late Bud Burns) retired, they played golf a lot. They played in the couples league, and she played in the ladies league at Joachim (Golf Club in Herculaneum).”
Growing up together, Tom said he and his sister didn’t always get along.
“We butted heads quite a bit,” he said with a laugh. “Beth and I were just very different types of personality. She was neat and organized and I am definitely not.”
In the course of her job at Ameren, Beth coordinated activities like board meetings. She was also the point person for some of the company’s charitable projects.
“She and her co-workers would volunteer to read aloud about 30 minutes a week to preschool kids in the St. Louis area,” Tom said. “I got an email from one of her co-workers who said her kids loved her. They called her ‘Ms. Beth.’”
Beth also was active in United Way fundraising, and with Food Outreach.
“They would go out once a month on a Monday and help prepare and serve food to those living with HIV, AIDS or cancer,” Tom said.
Beth was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in July 2012, and underwent surgery and chemotherapy.
“She was really sick at times,” her brother recalled. “She moved in with Mom so my mom could help take care of her.
Lightning struck the family again this March, when Janice was diagnosed with breast cancer. She started treatment, but in August doctors told the family her disease had metastasized.
“They did more scans, and determined it had spread to her bones,” Tom said.
Mother and daughter were determined to get through their health crises as a team.
“They took care of each other,” Tom said. “When one was not feeling so well, the other was doing OK, so it worked out pretty well.”
With Tom busy with work and his brother, Patrick, living in Farmington, it was nice to have Janice’s brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Suzanne Perry of Crystal City, close by to lend a hand.
“People keep telling me, ‘You did a good job taking care of them,’ but it sure wasn’t just me,” Tom said. “My brother did what he could, I did what I could, and my aunt and uncle were there when we couldn’t be, to do things for Mom and Beth.”
In August, Janice had surgery to implant a steel rod in her leg, and went to live at Crystal Oaks for rehabilitation and physical therapy.
“It was tough for them. Beth was still going through chemotherapy, and the doctors didn’t want her to visit Mom because Beth’s immune system was so compromised,” Tom said. “But there was at least one day we were able to get Mom outside in a wheelchair, get Beth out there on the patio away from everybody, and they were able to have a nice little visit.”
About a month ago, Beth was no longer able to keep food down. Doctors discontinued her therapy and she was admitted to de Greeff Hospice House. With Janice still at Crystal Oaks and Beth in St. Louis County, the family was constantly divided.
“We felt like if we were visiting one, we were neglecting the other,” Tom said. “We couldn’t give them both the attention they deserved.
“After Beth had been in hospice a couple of days, she wanted to know if we could get Mom in there, too. They had different hospice care providers, but people bent over backward to get Mom in there.”
The two women spent the last few weeks of their lives right across the hall from each other.
“It was so much more convenient for family and friends to go one place instead of being 25 miles apart,” Tom said. “That was a blessing. They each knew the other was there; the last few days, they could get Beth in a wheelchair and she could go visit mom.”
Tom said his mother and sister leave a legacy of service and caring.
“The amount of compliments and nice things I heard about both Mom and Beth was just overwhelming,” he said. “They are certainly going to be missed.”
A joint funeral Mass was held, and mother and daughter were buried in the same cemetery.
“Selfishly, my brother and I only wanted to go through all of that one time,” Tom said.
“But, as we talked to people, we realized that’s what they would have wanted, too. After spending the last year and half taking care of each other, they would have wanted to go out together.”
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.