Jo-Ann Louise Burton

Jo-Ann Louise Burton died Monday evening, Sept. 16, 2013, at home, apparently of a heart attack.

Born Petra Adamczyk, in Bayreuth, Germany, on April 1, 1955, she was adopted by Johanna Elizabeth (Liz) and James (Jim) Lawrence Sprole, at 9 months. Arriving from Germany by ship in New York City, the Sproles moved on to Baltimore, where the family still resides. Jo-Ann became a naturalized citizen in 1960.

A happy child, she grew up with two younger sisters, Linda and Vicki. A Girl Scout and a lifelong Oriole fan later in life, she rooted for the UConn women's basketball teams and the Green Bay Packers.

Jo-Ann graduated from Patterson Park High School in Baltimore in June 1973, and later went on to attend community college. In 1973, at age 18, shortly after graduating high school, Jo-Ann married Gene Edward Burton, a childhood friend and neighbor, in a Baptist ceremony Sept. 29, at the Edgemere Church of God in Baltimore County. Five years later, on Aug. 4, 1978, a son, James Reed Burton, was born. Following their divorce in 1985, Jo-Ann remained in Baltimore. For the next 13 years, she worked at various jobs that included Crown Auto Processing for several years, and after a mass layoff there, as a day care worker, in a pharmacy and in a gas station kiosk. In 1998, she moved from Baltimore to Manchester, with her cat Gracie to live with Kimon Karath, and together they lived happily over the last 15 years along with an assortment of adopted stray cats. She loved all the things related to cats. A whiz on the Internet, she had her own blog and a large following online. Jo-Ann loved reading. She learned to read very young, and it was a lifelong passion. Light fiction books about books, cat-themed books, cook books, children's literature, and an occasional biography or autobiography were her favorites. A frequent visitor to the Mary Cheney library, she was there two or three times a week and occasionally went to the Whiton branch. Jo-Ann loved to cook, and was a chocoholic. She had a great disposition, possessed infinite patience, and was a great listener. She was occasionally frustrated, but in 15 years, she never lost her temper. Everyone who got to know her, liked her a lot.

In Baltimore, her surviving family members include her father Jim Sprole; two sisters, Linda E. (Sprole) and her husband, Kenneth W. Scott, and their twin girls (Jo-Ann's nieces) Elizabeth R. (Liz) and Laure E. Scott; Vicki S. (Sprole) and her husband, Ludvik (Lou) Ullen and their two children (Jo-Ann's nephew and niece) Ludvik (Pepe) Ullen III and Francesca (Chessie) Ullen. Other survivors include her ex-husband, Gene Edward Burton; a son, James Reed Burton, also of Baltimore; and her significant other, Kimon N. Karath, in Manchester. Jo-Ann's mom, Liz Sprole (nee Willis); and her sister, Carolyn G. Willis, Jo-Ann's favorite aunt. On my behalf and hers, I want to thank those who helped out over the last few weeks: a neighbor, the Manchester police, fire and rescue, and the staff of the Watkins Funeral Home, 142 East Center Street, Manchester, CT 06040.

Funeral services and burial will be private.

Jo-Ann will be missed by her relatives, friends, her surviving cats (Shadow, her Favorite, and Peaches) as well as the five to nine strays who show up on the back patio twice a day to get fed. She leaves us with a lot of good memories. May her soul rest in peace.

To sign the online registry book, go to

www.holmes-watkinsfuneralhomes.com

Should you like to remember her with a donation in her memory, she would have liked to continue to help these organizations: Mary Cheney Memorial Library, 586 Main St., Manchester, CT. 06040-6177; The Connecticut Humane Society, 201 Russell Road, Newington, CT 06113; or any charity dealing with heart disease or diabetes (American Heart Association or the Joslin Diabetic Centers); Joslin Diabetic Center, Hospital of Central Connecticut, 100 Grand St., New Britain, CT. 06050; Joslin Diabetic Center, UConn Health Center, 1 South Road, Suite 130, Farmington, CT 06032.