Dr. Van Burnham Jr.

Dr. Van Robinson Burnham, Jr., died peacefully at his home early Saturday morning, December 4, 2010, from complications caused by kidney failure.
Dr. Burnham was born Feb. 20, 1920, in a Sears & Roebuck prefabricated house in Marks that still stands today. He was raised in Ruleville and attended Ruleville High School. Upon graduation at age 17, he attended Sunflower Jr. College in Moorhead. While there,he captained and quarterbacked the junior varsity football squad.
Dr. Burnham's next stop on the education totem pole was at the Ole Miss medical school. It was a two-year curriculum and it was in Oxford that he received his Bachelor of Science degree.
In 1941 he transferred to medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago. With World War II in full battle, Dr. Burnham enlisted in the Navy. He was kept on reserve until his medical training was completed in 1943. He did his internship and pathology residency at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin.
Having completed his medical training by the time he was 23, Dr. Burnham was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. He spent a year overseas in Manila, Philippines, and along the Yangtze River in China where he treated both Chinese and Japanese injured soldiers.
He was discharged to Ruleville and when he could find no medical openings in the Mississippi Delta, he went to Vaiden and practiced for two years. There, he met his future wife, Barbara Braswell, and the two were married in 1948. Three days after saying their vows, they moved to Clarksdale where Dr. Burnham worked under Dr. Ike Carr on the second floor of the McWilliams Bldg.His medical career was interrupted in 1953 when he was recalled into the Navy during the Korean War. Stationed in Birmingham, Ala., the Burnhams remained there for two years, returning home to Clarksdale in 1955.
It was then that the good doctor opened his own family medical practice on the fifth floor of the McWilliams Bldg., right across from Dr. Wilkins and Wilkins and Dr. T. G. Hughes. He remained in the same location until his retirement in December, 2003.
Dr. Burnham delivered babies until 1962, made house calls all over Coahoma County for many more years, and was the team doctor for the Clarksdale Wildcats during that same decade, sitting on the field with the team at every Friday night home game.
Besides being a devoted doctor, as well as one of the top diagnosticians in the Mid-South, Dr. B. was a member of MENSA and INTERTEL.
He was also on the Board of Trustees of the Miss. Dept. of Archives and History from 1988-2003 and established the Barbara B. Burnham Memorial Fund Endowment for the Foundation for Miss. history following her death in 2006. This fund allows archaeologists from Mississippi to travel to meetings all over the world.
Dr. Burnham was an active supporter of the University of Mississippi Foundation for the Civil War Museum, Dept. of Anthropology and the Ole Miss Rebel track team.
He served as president of the North Delta Museum's Board of Trustees and was a member of the Clarksdale Rotary Club from 1956 until earlier this year. He was selected by the Rotary Club as a Paul Harris Fellow. He was an avid supporter of the Carnegie Public Library in Clarksdale. Dr. Burnham was also a member of the First United Methodist Church.
An avid football fan, he followed his Ole Miss Rebels religiously and was one of the first fans to actively study recruiting, dating back to the 1960s.
Dr. Burnham is preceded in death by his wife Barbara who died in 2006, as well as his parents, Dr. Van R. Burnham, Sr., and Nettie Burnham, and a sister Eloise who died in 1935.
He leaves a daughter, Babs Burnham Sweatt of Clarksdale; two sons, Van (Bubba) Burnham and wife Ginger, of Sumner; and Conner Burnham and fiancé Sherri May, of Clarksdale.
He also leaves five grandchildren, Scott Hollis, and wife Natasha, of Olive Branch; Dr. Van Hollis, of Mandeville, La.; Denson Hollis, of Oxford; Beth Burnham, of Hattiesburg; and Bo Burnham, of Portland, Ore.
Funeral services will be at noon, Monday at First Methodist Church with burial to follow at Oakridge Cemetery. Visitation will be Sunday from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Meredith-Nowell Funeral Home.
Memorials may be made to the University of Mississippi Foundation, Box 249, University, MS., 38677, in his memory, to the First United Methodist Church in Clarksdale, or the charity of the donor's choice.