Janet V. Burk

Janet Virginia (Thomson) Burk, of Bailey and Arvada, Colorado, merged with the infinite on August 23rd, 2025 at the age of 87. She passed peacefully in Arvada after a short struggle with AML.

She was born to John P. Thomson and Alice Virginia Thomson on July 12, 1938 in Spokane, Washington. Father John was also born on July 12th, and while in labor,

Mother Virginia exclaimed, "Is it still the 12th?", very pleased the baby arrived on her husband's birthday.

The Thomsons lived in various cities in Washington state – Aberdeen, then Montesano until settling in Colville. In 1954 her father participated in the very first Washington State University-Pakistan exchange program, and the family moved overseas where he taught geology and minerology in Lahore, and Janet attended the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, India. She graduated in 1956. Her senior biography in the 1956 yearbook noted that she enjoyed writing poems, essays and short stories, noting that her "personality and sincerity would win her many friends in future years."

After returning to the United States, she pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Therapy at WSU in Pullman, Washington. She worked as a speech therapist for several years in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before returning to Washington state. This is where she met a tall, handsome graduate student named Jerry Burk, who worked for the Bureau of Reclamation in Moses Lake. They married on March 30th, 1963. Jerry accepted a position in Phoenix, where they lived for 4 years until he transferred to Willows, California in 1967. In Willows they got their first cat, a little tuxedo kitten named Peppermint. Within a year, the trio moved to Carmichael, California, where they welcomed their one and only child Christine. The family eventually moved to Lakewood, Colorado in the winter of 1975. This is when her love for the Rocky Mountains began.

Janet was a full time Mom, also volunteering with different organizations, including civic theater group the Lakewood Players, Colorado Horse Rescue and at Carmody Junior High. When her daughter was older she did some part time work, including a stint downtown at Search Company International.

Janet loved the outdoors, particularly our Colorado mountains. She loved animals and nature, and water in any form. Her love of traveling continued throughout her life. She was an avid gardener and enjoyed planting and maintaining the many perennials and trees in her yard and would always offer to help others with their projects. She loved photography, and exhibited her work through Shows On Loan at the Foothills Art Center. She was an avid reader; there were books on every nightstand and end table. A lifelong learner, she enjoyed attending seminars, taking classes on everything from writing to spirituality. Having learned to play the piano as a child, she also cultivated a great love for music which stayed with her always. She also played the concertina and the autoharp. She continued her creative pursuits, sketching comics, writing stories and poems, and creating elaborate sand sculptures whenever the family visited a place with a beach. She also loved vintage and exotic cars.

In 1997, when Jerry retired from the Bureau of Reclamation, they moved up to Bailey, Colorado where they enjoyed a little piece of heaven for over 25 years. She and Jerry had a paper route for a while, delivering the Fairplay Flume to a number of businesses up and down the 285 corridor. They enjoyed participating in Silver Set activities and Park County Hysterical (Historical) Society events and volunteered at McGraw Park for many years. They could often be found at the Bailey Library, the Knotty Pine, the Cutthroat Café and the Shawnee Community center for the legendary VFW breakfast on the first Sunday of the month.

Jerry passed away in February of 2019 after a long illness. Janet remained in their beloved mountain home, supported by friends, neighbors and family. She considered moving 'down the hill' for several years for practical reasons but was still running the snowthrower and tending to the property in her mid-80s. In 2023 she decided to move into a senior living community in Arvada. She sold the house, downsized and moved into a nice apartment at the Brookdale Meridian. Though still visiting and keeping in touch with her Bailey friends, she developed an additional community at Brookdale. In this new setting she enjoyed group outings and events, long games of Rummikub and working puzzles on the East side of the 3rd floor. Every time a puzzle was completed, she would write an accompanying haiku, type it and tuck it under the edge of the puzzle.

Janet will always be remembered for her intelligence, kindness and empathy. She sought wisdom and understanding, never living a life on the surface. She maintained an almost childlike sense of wonder, fascinated by how machinery operates and how things are made. She was practical yet creative and had a delightful sense of humor. She is survived by a daughter, Christine (Andrew) Keating, as well as many nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Virginia Thomson, and husband Gerald Burk.

A celebration of life will be held at the Brookdale Meridian on Friday September 26th at 2pm, and at the Shawnee Community Center on Saturday September 27th at 11am. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Horse Protection League of Colorado (https://www.thehpl.org/).

Check out Janet's memorial play list, "Mom's Mix Tape" on YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyeOpCzjeiwzliGaqDg6rbI61miK7KQLN&si=xGxJjfFmW_6p1XCp