Helen Lee Hodgin Burris

Helen Lee Hodgin Burris, age 88, passed away peacefully at the Overland Park Regional Medical Center on Saturday, January 19.  Helen was the daughter of W.E. "Cap" and Laura Brownlee Hodgin.

She grew up in Maitland, MO, graduated with honors from Maitland High School and received a music scholarship to Northwest Missouri State University, graduating with honors in music and English.

On May 27, 1947 she married Edward Claunch Burris from Hamilton, Texas.  He was a student at Northwest Missouri.

Mrs. Burris was a music teacher at Graham, Hopkins, and Eugene Field in Maryville, MO.  After some thirty years, she retired from Cherokee Elementary in the Shawnee Mission School District, where she taught first grade.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Bob Brownlee Hodgin.

She is survived by her husband, Edward, of the home, and son-at-heart, Patrick Whitney, his wife Jennifer, and their children, Ben and Emma.  Also surviving are nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Memorial contributions can be made to the First Methodist Church in Maitland, MO.

Mrs. Burris's body has been cremated.  Inurnment will be in the Maitland Cemetery, at a later date.