Jeanne Beadle Burbank

BURBANK, JEANNE BEADLE

Jeanne Beadle Burbank, 86, retired research electrochemist, passed away on March 2, 2002, in Phoenix, AZ. She was born in Philadelphia, PA on May 8, 1915, the eldest of three children to John Bookwalter and Isabelle (Peacock) Beadle. She spent most of her childhood and working years in Washington, DC, where she received a B.A. degree in chemistry from American University. She married Robert Clowe Burbank on July 1, 1936. She and Robert moved to Philadelphia, PA, where they both worked at Peacock Laboratories as chemists while earning M.S. degrees in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeanne Burbank had one child before being widowed on September 21, 1946. After being widowed, Jeanne moved back to Washington, DC, where she worked as a research chemist for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for 25 years.

Jeanne was known internationally in the field of electrochmistry and particularly for her research in the field of acid storage batteries and storage cells. She published over 35 articles in professional journals, and received numerous awards for her work and publications. In 1958, she received her first patent from the U.S. Patent Office, and in 1966, she received the Battery Division Research Award from NRL. In 1969 she received the 6th annual William Blum Award from the National Capital Section of the Electrochemical Society, and in 1970, she received the first Frank Booth Award for outstanding technical merit at the International Power Sources Symposium held in Brighton, England. Much of her work concerned submarine batteries, and she was able to study these batteries under working conditions on the U.S.S. Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine.

Jeanne was able, in spite of many obstacles, not the least being the fact that professional women in her field were almost unheard of, to accomplish much in research in electrochemistry.

Jeanne retired to Tucson, AZ in 1971 where she took up painting in oils and did volunteer work for conferences at the University of Arizona and also volunteer work for the League of Women Voters. In 1986 she and her sister, Joan Beadle Gailar, moved to Scottsdale, AZ. Soon after her sister's death in 1997. Jeanne moved to Life Care Center of Paradise Valley in Phoenix, AZ. She had a brother, John Beadle, Jr., who also predeceased her.

She will be sorely missed by her daugher, Carey Lea (and husband, Oris) Friesen, and grandchildren, Isabelle (John) SLoan and Aric (Amy) Friesen, and by her two great-grandchildren, Cynthia and Jennifer Sloan.

Services are private. Arrangements by SHADOW MOUNTAIN MORTUARY, 602-971-7350