Bench given in memory of Tim Burkholder
Staff writer
Nancy Burkholder of Westport Point, Mass., was in town Friday to see the first of four benches dedicated at Marion City Library.
The benches are to be used for outdoor seating near the library. Burkholder is donating them in memory of her late husband, Marion native Tim Burkholder, who died Dec. 28, 2002, at the age of 70.
Nancy Burkholder is a native of Cohasset, Mass. She met Tim on "a very unhappy" blind date at Brown University, in Providence, R.I. She was a student at Newton (Mass.) College at the time.
Bud and Lavona Hannaford of Marion were close friends of the Burkholders, who lived in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The Hannafords went to Tim's 70th birthday party in June last year, Mrs. Burkholder said.
Tim was a publisher of magazines for Technical Publications, a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet. During the last 12 years of his life, he published magazines for the Instrument Society of America.
Salesmen for that company donated a complete set of 20 Patrick O'Brian books of seafaring adventure to Marion City Library in Tim Burkholder's memory.
The Burkholder family also is making a continuous donation to the library for book purchases, Nancy Burkholder said.
Some children's and large-print books, as well as a sculpture, also have been donated to the library.
"It was a very literate family," Nancy Burkholder said. "The Burkholders were one of the original Mennonite families here in the 19th century. Samuel, Tim's grandfather, was a judge and owned newspapers in the area.
"Tim's grandmother was Florence Miesse. Tim's father, Edwin V. Burkholder, was the youngest of four children, and sort of the 'black sheep' of the family, because he ran off to New York City to be a writer," Nancy Burkholder said.
"He had no real job. He moved the family here, from New York to Marion, when Tim was in the second grade. But his dad stayed in New York, and would come here every three months to spend a month here visiting.
"A minister at the family home asked all present to pray for Edwin, in the sinful city of New York.
"Tim's mother was Canadian, and was not happy about coming here (Marion) at first, but later said her time in Marion was the happiest of her life," said Mrs. Burkholder.
"Tim's older sister, Anne, and he attended public schools here. He served in the Army. I heard lots of stories about Marion.
"Anne died in Agana, Guam, at the age of 53," Nancy Burkholder said.
Tim and Nancy's son, Joshua, is a professional technical photographer and lives in New Milford, Conn.
A daughter, Sarah Burkholder Mullican, is a prosecuting attorney in Terre Haute, Ind. She has three daughters who love to spend time in Marion. They ran in the marathon race at Old Settlers' Day in 2000, Nancy Burkholder said.
Another daughter, Amy Burkholder Long, is an investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Chicago. She has a son and a daughter.
A third daughter, Samantha B. Zucchi, is a homemaker in the Washington, D.C., area. She has a daughter and a son.
