Jacquelyn "Jackie" Burns Dies at 96

Jacquelyn "Jackie" Burns died on Jan. 14, 2021 at 96 after a long and fruitful life. She was part of the "brain trust" of Lemon Grove, the group that believed in, boosted, helped, promoted and otherwise served the little town with the Big Lemon. One by one, we are losing these pillars of the town, who shaped its modern history.
Jackie and her late husband, Dr. Robert Burns (the town veterinarian, who became a city councilmember and mayor), settled here in 1954, bought the building at North Avenue and Buena Vista Avenue and, in 1955, developed Lemon Grove Veterinary Hospital, which became a local institution. It thrives to this day under the leadership of another U of Michigan alumnus, Dr. Anil Bettegowda.
They built their own home and flanked it with Jackie's beloved roses and a replica of an old-time barn red "barn." They raised five children, who attended local schools, participated in local sports teams, went to Sunday School at St. John of the Cross Church, loved where they lived, and their parents, too.
Jackie was born in 1924 to Ariel Winegarden and Joseph Winegarden in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Dr. Bob also was born. She grew up to become an army nurse in WW 11. Dr. Bob, who had earned his veterinarian degree at the University of Michigan, became a stateside medic in the Marine Corps.
In other words, they were Greatest Generation Americans drawn together in marriage at the close of the war and eager to start a family, build a business and help to make America whole again. Jackie was just 23 when this life adventure began.
Both campaigned through four attempts to make Lemon Grove a city, gaining incorporation in 1977. Jackie was in the PTA, Boy and Girl Scouts and multiple committees at St. John's Church. She sold tickets and made costumes and wigs for the Lemon Grove Players, a theatrical troupe the Burns helped to launch in the 1970s. She cooked, grew flowers, nursed her children through the usual childhood illnesses, campaigned for Dr. Bob's successful city council and mayoral runs and got her adored kids to maturity.
When the Lemon Grove Historical Society developed an exhibit, "Lemon Grove in World War Two," for the Parsonage Museum, Jackie and Dr. Bob found uniforms (including her army nurse outfit), artifacts and documents and turned the exhibit into a year-long blockbuster.
The Burns knew tragedy, losing a son to cancer and a daughter to a car crash. But Jackie's faith, wry humor and belief in the innate goodness of people got them through. In the Age of Covid, her family cannot invite the hundreds of friends and well-wishers to memorialize her, so we send cards, love and flowers in memory of the beating heart of the Burns family. Oh, our merry, can-do Jackie, we'll miss you forever.