Fred Burnett

LA JARA, Colo. -- Dr. Fred Mark Burnett, 85, passed away Monday, April 24, 2017, in La Jara.

The third son of Methodist minister William Richeson Burnett and his wife, Alice Elizabeth Burnett, he was born Dec. 5, 1931, in O'Donnell, Texas, and lived there with his family until the age of 8. His family moved after this to Colorado for future duties connected with the Methodist church. Fred Mark received his early schooling in Texas and his later education in Colorado, graduating from high school in 1950 in Brush, Colorado, and attending college with a football scholarship to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

After graduation, he served his country in the Korean War with basic combat training in Fort Carson, Colorado, in 1955, training in the 617th Field Artillery Battalion, specialist training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and completing the XVII Airborne Corps Artillery Academy from Fort Carson, and in North Carolina with specialist, third-class rifle-instructor duties. He was honorably discharged in 1957 and also accepted for official membership into the American Legion.

He attended Athens State College for two years in Alabama, moving to Kansas, where he received a doctorate in education from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Ultimately, he accepted a teaching position in Cape Girardeau, where he taught ceramics at Southeast Missouri State University for the next 25 years, from 1972 to 1997. During this tenure, his college had published Dr. Burnett's work "The Evans Family Potters of Southeast Missouri 1858-1969," in 1978, which was afterward inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. In 1998, he moved with his family from Cape Girardeau to southern Colorado, in retirement until his passing.

He enjoyed history, photography, literature and participated in sports, excelling in such activities in both high school and college. Having a great love for the outdoors, he was an enthusiastic hiker, loved camping, the mountains and traveling, as well as getting chances to spend time with family.

He was preceded in death by his father and mother; his brothers, John Wesley Burnett and William Henderson Burnett; as well as his nephew, Jesse Capen, all of Denver, Colorado.

He is survived by his wife, Carol Ann; his son, William Burnett of St. Louis; and daughters, Joanne Burnett of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Jamie O'Leary of Edmond, Oklahoma, and Katherine Henson of Jackson, Missouri; his nephews, Greg Burnett of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Doug Burnett of Westfield, New Jersey, and David Burnett of Littleton, Colorado; and nieces, Cynthia Burnett of Denver, Colorado, and Marilee Burgeson of San Marcos, California.

Memorial services are pending at this time.