George and Genevieve grew up in a small company town in the hills of Pennsylvania where George was a miner. To earn extra money he also did a variety of other odd jobs

such as shoeing horses, cutting hair, and butchering animals. Genevieve stayed at home and took care of the house and children – she never learned to drive but was a great cook; she would can all the fruit and vegetables that the children

picked. She also would feed the hoboes that stopped by their house – George wouldn’t let them inside but Genevieve fed

them on the porch.

Christmas in the Burgoon house carried many traditions. George closed off the parlour for the whole month of

December. The boy children would handpick and cut down the tree from the mountains and then George would decorate

it in secret with real candles and reflective foil to make the light shine as much as possible. He reused the same twisted-

metal tinsel year after year and hung the glass ornaments one-by-one. On the porch he would dye real icicles for the

neighbourhood to see. George was very picky about how his tree looked, and town folks came to see his tree each year.

George and Genevieve

For Christmas, the children always received a new outfit that was handmade by Genevieve using only a picture from a catalogue to copy – the children would wear their new outfits to midnight mass every year. They received other practical gifts such as new shoes – Genevieve used to hide the gifts in the wardrobe but she had to move them to the cedar chest because the children would always search for them. On Christmas Day, the gifts were laid out in piles

but they weren’t wrapped and each person also had a stocking with apples, oranges, nuts and candy. Christmas dinner was

usually a chicken or ham killed by George, sweet potatoes and anything else from the root cellar. In general, Genevieve shopped very far in advance for all her gifts - when she died in April she already had a gift for June’s birthday in January the next year!

Growing up, there were 5 girls and 2 boys in June’s family. The children used to have a paper route to help

the family earn extra money – they would use the neighbour’s horse to deliver the papers. They all went

to a one-room schoolhouse where there were only two teachers – June always had a brother or sister in class with her. She wasn’t a very good student because she was too shy and quiet and never won the attention of the teacher. The children walked to school until George bought a car, then he would drive them and even heat up the car in the winter by making a fire in the garage.

Young June

June and her sisters were very fashion-conscious and used to go through great

lengths to straighten their hair – they used a real iron and a towel to protect their hair from burning. None of them

were ever allowed to learn how to cook because Genevieve thought that it would be a waste of food if they messed up in

the process.

Later, several of the girl children went to Baltimore to find jobs. They all lived

together and June would even send her dirty clothes home to Pennsylvania for

her mother to wash because she couldn’t do her own laundry. All that changed

when she met John…

June and John met while working at Western Electric in Baltimore. They both worked the night shift and ended up on parallel

assembly lines – John would spend the shift throwing debris at June until she finally noticed him. Once they were married, John made June stop working there. John, on the other hand,

dreamed of joining the Army but couldn’t because of his stomach ulcers so he kept working night shifts at Western Electric until he retired. June’s family was a little surprised by John because they all thought that she would marry Joe who lived just a few doors

down from them in Pennsylvania and always had an eye for June, but John won them over when he took a train trip to visit them in

Pennsylvania.

June and John

Since all of John’s family was from Baltimore the couple spent a lot of time with the Wronkas,

including going to the beach together often. John and June even lived a few doors down from his mother in Highland Town for a few years before moving further away. After moving, all of John’s family would come to their house for holidays, where all the children sat at the kid’s table and all the adults spent the whole time shouting and

arguing!

Maryanne, John’s mother, also came every Sunday to spend the day with John and his family – but since she didn’t speak much English,

she spent most of the day sleeping in the chair or cooking her famous noodle soup. Since Maryanne was so fascinated by bridges,

they would often take family drives along the coast so that she could cross as many bridges as possible.

John would never allow anyone to babysit his three daughters except for his mother, Maryanne, or June’s sister, Fay Ellen. In fact, each and every summer, June

and John would take the three girls for a weeklong holiday to Fay’s house. During the days everyone

would go to the beach, but during the evenings June and John would go out on the town and leave the girls

with Fay. When they tried to do this in New Jersey, often people would mistake June for Boots because they looked so much alike – and Boots would get in trouble for being out drinking with men when she

wasn’t married!

Especially at Christmas and other holidays, John’s family was around the house celebrating together. In the midst of all the chaos, Ceil still managed to give gifts worth EXACTLY the same amount - any

discrepancy of even a few cents was wrapped with the presents, down to the penny.

Brothers and Sisters

John was an avid golfer while they were married and he was really very good. One time, while he was watching TV at the house, he

casually mentioned that he had been golfing with the man that was on the news – it turns out it was the mayor of Baltimore and John

hadn’t even realized!

John also loved to shop at yard sales – not because he needed anything, but because he loved to get a good deal. He came

home with all kinds of ‘treasures’, the shinier the better. The whole basement was full of his toys and he could spend hours downstairs

tinkering with anything that he had. He also made a showroom upstairs for all the ceramic pieces that he and June made.

Despite all the treasures he collected, John never gave June any presents after the pair of rhinestone earrings that she complained

about!

After Marriage

John also cooked special dishes – but he always needed June in the kitchen with him to hand him what he needed and to tell him where things were. When he steamed crabs he would clean each one with a toothbrush and fold them just right before he placed them in the pot – he said they tasted better that way. He would go to Lexington

Market every Saturday morning after his night shift to get meat and produce for the week – and he always came home with huge

sandwiches for the girls.

John was full of mysteries. When he passed away, the birth certificate that was sent for him listed his name as Latislaw Veronka and had his date of birth for about a year and month earlier than he had always said – June never figured out if it was his real birth

certificate or his brother’s and we may never know!

Once Mary Ann moved to public school from Catholic School in second grade, June went back to work as a teacher’s assistant, mostly to keep an eye on Mary Ann who was a bit of a ‘problem child’; Darlene and Bonnie went to Catholic school all the way until graduation. June would sew all the girls’ prom dresses and

party dresses, although she would make them cut and arrange the patterns themselves, and she was always the leader of their Girl Scout troops. She learned to drive very late -John took her to the

parking lot of St. Matthew’s and left her alone until she figured it out. She later took revenge on Mary Ann when she made her drive her

first stick-shift car home without any lessons.

June also never learned how to ride a bike, except for one bike with big fat tires. She would slowly cycle it to the end of the alley and

then have to get off, turn it around, and then ride it back to where she started.

Daughters

John stuck to golfing - he would often take the girls with him to chase his golf balls; if they didn’t lose any, he would take them out to dinner or sometimes even let them come with him to watch his

bowling league play.

June passed on the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve – it was always one that she picked out for each of the girls and was something they could wear to Christmas Eve Mass. It often happened that the gifts weren’t labelled and would end up being

opened by the wrong daughter - June would switch the gifts around until everyone got the one they were supposed to.

Bonita was almost named Barbara instead – after a monkey that lived at the Baltimore Zoo! Bonnie was the middle child, and

probably was John’s favourite, although he might not have admitted it. She was the smartest of the girls and loved to read and study,

was never in trouble, and was completely spoiled. June even let her get cats even though she was allergic to them!

When Bonnie was little and went to get her tonsils taken out, the nurses thought she was so cute that they said she looked just like a doll. June and John were so proud of that, they used to tell the story

to everyone they met.

Bonnie was often sick and even had a rare open-heart surgery when she was in high school which caused her to be pampered all that much more. She was the first one to travel abroad – but that too ended up in a hospital visit – she broke her arm on the plane ride

home from London!

Bonnie

Darlene is the oldest of the girls and was the first to leave home. Her boyfriend, Roberto, whom she latter married, drove a second-hand

scooter from an Avon lady – it even had the hole in the floorboard from the previous owner’s high heel!

Growing up, one of her hobbies was painting – this caused many arguments in the house. Once she painted a landscape picture with mountains looming in the background, except she painted

the mountains purple! John couldn’t understand why she would do something so off-the-wall and he fought with her for ages about it! After that, Darlene started painting abstract art and John was even more lost!

Since Darlene was the oldest, she was often responsible for babysitting the other girls. But Darlene would always invite her boyfriends over

while ‘on duty’ and to take revenge, Mary Ann would run away and hid under the porch so that Darlene would get in serious trouble when June

and John got home.

Darlene

Mary Ann was named after John’s mother – but they were sure to spell it slightly differently to be able to tell them apart. June had several miscarriages

before Mary Ann was born so she was a little unexpected.

Mary Ann was a mischievous child who always liked to play outside and was always getting hurt. One time, June and John even put her in an actual

doghouse because she was being bad!

She would run away from Catholic school whenever she got the chance - it was right across the street from their house and she was usually home by

lunchtime. She hated the nuns and absolutely refused to talk to them - it went so far they were convinced she had learning disabilities.

Instead of painting, it was music for Mary Ann that caused arguments at the house. John shouted at her every time

she was practicing - he claimed she was playing the songs wrong, but actually he just didn’t like them.

Mary Ann had long hair, but being the tomboy that she was, she didn’t like to take care of it; she would only brush the top layer and leave tangles underneath. On Saturdays she

wasn’t allowed off the porch until June could get a comb all the way through it.

Mary Ann

Darlene’s children grew up on a farm in Michigan so their biggest exposure to June and John happened at holiday visits – mostly

Christmas and Easter. When Jack and Suzanne were due to visit, June and John would hunt at yard sales to collect the best toys for

them to play with.

Growing up, Suzanne used to ride and show horses. For all of her shows, June sewed her costumes.

Jack was June and John’s first grandchild and the one who spent the most time in Baltimore. He also was the grandchild who turned June into a great-grandmother; he has two sons who also inherited

her red hair.

Jack and Suzanne

On their weekly visits, June and John would take the three grandchildren out to eat – but John would get angry if they didn’t finish everything on their plate. He quicky learned to get them McDonalds which they would eat while he enjoyed meals at his favourite

diners.

June loved to take Corie out shopping – and also used to sew her Easter outfits every year. Jessie was the apple of John’s eye because she was so calm and cuddly. He used to get her anything she wanted, even when Mary Ann said no. Zack inherited June’s bright red hair which got him huge amounts of attention everywhere they went! With the red

hair came lots of energy - Zack wasn’t interested in calm sports like golf, much to John’s dismay.

Corie, Jessie and Zack had the advantage of living relatively close to June and John as they grew up. June and John continued their tradition of collecting ‘treasures’ at

yard sales which they would bring to Mary Ann and Randy’s house once a week for the grandchildren. Also when Corie, Jessie and Zack visited June and John’s house, they would spend countless hours exploring the basement and attic to see what ‘treasures’

they could uncover.

Corie Jessie and zack