Kenneth & Melba Burnett Family History

Marjorie Burnett Jones recently provided me with copies of DVDs containing videos of interviews of her parents, Kenneth William Burnett and Melba Brewer Burnett, Kenneth's graveside service, and videos taken of family members attending a family gathering at their daughter Louise's Sugarhouse home in Salt Lake City following funeral services for Melba Burnett. Also contained in that last video are old photographs on display during the reception that are narrated and explained by then Marjorie Burnett Hess.

These rare and precious Burnett family history videos have been uploaded to YouTube and are available to those with the hyperlinks listed below. The interviews of Ken and Melba provide valuable insight into events in their lives, their upbringing, personality, and their values and beliefs.

Melba Brewer Burnett interview. May 1988
https://youtu.be/NER-VwXUj7g

Burnett relatives gather for funeral of Melba Brewer Burnett; Jun1994
https://youtu.be/MkhxF2FMSNk

Cameron and Marge Hess commenting on old Burnett family photographs; 20Jun1994
https://youtu.be/xbgKhykHoi4

Ken Burnett WWI experiences; 1998
https://youtu.be/VZCpuvPVEoQ

Kenneth Burnett 1998 Airman of the Year
https://youtu.be/27xWJa0uSn0

Graveside services for Ken Burnett; Jan 2001

https://youtu.be/MWmA0cD3kJ8

Please share a link to this post with your family members since I don't have emails for all Burnett family descendants.

FYI: these YouTube links are not publicly searchable, but are accessible only to those who have access to the hyperlinks listed above.

4-generation photo of Burnett/Hess family

This photo was taken in the summer of 1999 or 2000.

Jayson, Cameron, and Katie Hess in front row.
Clayton, Grandfather, Marge, Zachary in back.

(click to expand)

Memories of Grandfather Ken Burnett written by Cameron Hess on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of his death (Jan 7, 2020) and which I intend to post on the Burnett Family blog, and distribute to extended family via email.

My maternal grandfather (your relationship may vary) Kenneth William Burnett died on January 7, 2001, at the age of 105, having lived during various parts of three centuries: 19th, 20th, and 21st. His life spanned the era of the horse and buggy to the Space Shuttle.

My earliest memories of him were while my older cousins and I spent time at my grandparents 2-story cabin near the top of Emigration Canyon Road above Salt Lake City before our family went to Germany in 1964, which they apparently sold while we were away. I remember that there was an old, non-functional organ in the front room with lots of white pull stop knobs that were fun to play with. I think he had hopes of fixing that organ so grandkids were scolded for playing with it.

I believe that in the old fashion kitchen there was a niche for storing firewood that had a door that opened to the outside to allow firewood to be added from outside. We cousins had fun climbing in and out of the house through that hole until we got in the way of the grown-ups who were probably trying to prepare meals. There were many large shade trees around the cabin (but no lawn as I recall) and it was a wonderful place for young children to explore and have fun.

I think I stayed overnight in one of the upstairs bedrooms on at least one occasion. i vaguely recall that there was some kind of problem (possibly an injury...removing a sliver?) with one of the other children (possibly one of my siblings) that resulted in a lot of loud drama, and possibly cutting short our visit. I've tried to return to this area to try to find this cabin to take a picture of it since I know of no such photos; however, the roads are private and protected by locked gates. The cabin has probably been remodeled and may be difficult to recognize.

Grandfather built a home further down the canyon out of old army barracks. I have no idea how the sections of those barracks were moved into position atop the steep driveway high above the roadway. I suppose he had to hire a large crane. That home was built either before I was born or when I was very young.

The home had a fireplace in both the front room and the small kitchen. There was a round table in the small rectangular kitchen positioned beneath a tiffany lamp hanging from the ceiling. Single pane windows were the norm back then, so ice often would form on the inside of the windows during the winter from condensation in the air.

There was an old black and white TV in the front room that I never recall working. There was also a stereo system (radio and maybe a record player) which I also never recall seeing operational. I also recall there being not a single game of any sort in the whole house, to the disappointment of all the grandchildren.

There was a nice-sized shaded front porch with room on either side of the front door for his and hers rocking chairs with a view of the BEAUTIFUL flower gardens they planted in their massive front yard. The flowers were so pretty that cars traveling up and down the narrow, 2-lane canyon road would pull over onto whatever small shoulder was available to take photographs of the flower garden.

While my father was in Vietnam and our family lived in Bountiful, I recall Grandfather and Grandmother driving out to visit us at least once a month, usually on a Sunday afternoon. Almost without exception, they always brought some item of food they purchased as a reason to come see us. I always thought it odd that they didn't seem comfortable with just coming for a visit without bringing a gift. I suppose they were just trying to be kind.

If I had it to do over again, I would sit down and ask them questions about their childhoods, ancestors, and early lives and tape record their answers until they got tired of talking. As a young teenager, such grown up talk did not usually interest me. I regret that it seems neither of them wrote a life history.

I know that Grandfather served in the military during WWI and was once assigned to the security detail for US President Wilson at the time the Armistice ending the war was signed. Grandfather served a states-side proselyting mission while he still had children living at home and adult men were called to serve as companions with other adult men. Grandfather and Grandmother also served a mission in England while my family lived in Germany in the mid-1960's. I think they came to visit us once and my folks may have reciprocated. For at least a few years, he worked for a company that collected overdue bills for medical professionals.

I know that they served in the Salt Lake temple on a regular basis for many years and presumably owned and cared for and transported their own temple clothes. (Grandmother embroidered me a temple apron as a wedding gift). Not withstanding the fact that they both served in the temple for years, my wedding photos taken outside the temple show Grandfather holding a brown paper sack in his hand, which presumably held his white temple trousers, socks, and shoes, as I think most temple weddings were "white" back then, meaning attendees had to change into white clothing to attend. I suppose his attitude was: why buy a small suitcase when they give away free paper bags at the grocery store?

Grandfather always wore long sleeve shirts with the top button closed, even when he was working in the yard. I recall him sometimes wearing overalls while working, but he usually wore worn out dress shoes while working in the yard, being die-hard proponents of the depression-era motto to wear everything out until it was no longer useable. I recall that when their previous manual transmission car finally died in the early 70's, he very reluctantly bought a base model (no frills), 4-door Toyota Corolla with his first ever automatic transmission, but only because it came standard. He was worried that automatic transmissions were unreliable. That car may have lasted longer than they did.

I don't recall very many one-on-one times with Grandfather Burnett, perhaps one or two trips to the store to buy groceries. I've been told that other cousins had different experiences, including long talks with Grandfather, for which experiences I am jealous.

It was a family tradition to visit Grandmother and Grandfather on Christmas Eve each year, since it was her birthday. From the perspective of the grandchildren, the evening became boring after several hours of adults talking, unless we could convince Grandfather to take out his false teeth and entertain us with the hilarious expression he made while smacking his gums together while talking without teeth.

After Grandma and Grandpa couldn't manage the maintenance on that property any longer (including clearing DEEP snow on their LARGE driveway), they sold the property (maybe in the late 1970's). I recall that my cousin John Greco was somewhat interested until he found out the asking price was about $100,000, which was on the steep side back then. The property definitely had LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Both the home and surrounding property were eventually sold and the home demolished to allow the installation of the now existing road that provides access to homes now located higher up the mountain.

Grandma and Grandpa bought a large condominium that was near a golf course and lake in what is NOW called Forest Glenn Condominiums at 1330 South 2100 South in the Sugarhouse area of SLC. They both got on a real health kick, boiling their own distilled water to drink, believing that fluoride and minerals in water were unhealthy. Considering how long they lived, they might have been right!.

This is the home where Grandmother died in 1994 at the age of 91. Grandfather gave a wonderful eulogy at Grandmother's funeral, which was recorded and which I transcribed and have posted on her FamilySearch page. I highly recommend downloading the PDF file from the Memories tab and reading it if you have not already done so. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWCD-4RX

I recall attending Grandfather's 100th birthday party in 1995 at a large mountain cabin owned by a friend of Louise. I thought he was still quite spry for his age. He LOVED to quote from memory the poem about expressing appreciation to people while they are alive rather than at their funerals.

I'm uncertain when Grandpa moved in with his daughter Louise at her yellow home located southeast of the 13th East exit of Interstate 80 in the Sugarhouse neighborhood of Salt Lake City, but he lived with her for several years before his death in 2001. My family visited him a time or two during our visits from Southern California. The photo at the top of this blog entry was the last photo taken of most members of my family with him before he died.

At the time of his death, it was reported that he had been the oldest living World War I veteran in the state of Utah.

I encourage other grandchildren to share their memories of grandfather and grandmother Burnett and I will post them here.