The first photo I located of my great-grandparents, William and Sarah Burke, was quite faded, but I was excited with the find and made copy photos of it. Click on FADED to see what it looked like.

On a later trip to Arkansas I was able to see a hand-painted but slightly damaged version of the same photo in Grady Burke's attic. I took photos and have recently electronically "restored" them. Click BEFORE to see the original and then on either WILLIAM NEWTON BURKE or SARAH ELIZABETH (MANTOOTH) BURKE to see the result. As you can tell, I separated, cleaned and straightened them.

The soft marble family grave markers at Price Springs Cemetery, near what is now called Cecil, Arkansas, are quite worn and lichen-covered. I included a picture of Wm. Newton Burke's HEADSTONE which is legible for the most part. It is very hard to catch the shadows just right so the words show up clearly. I may do a "rubbing" the next visit. For the location of Price Springs Cemetery, see the MAP . The grid shows square miles.

Orpha's younger brother by nine years, JOSEPH (JOE) SPENCER BURKE with his wife Bertha Ellen (Shaw) and Joesph's oldest son GRADEN (GRADY) W. BURKE with his first wife, Doris Juanita (Marchbanks) , and infant daughter Rebecca Joan (now Faldon).

CORA (BURKE) WEESE (on the right) standing with (from left) EVA (WEESE) PLUMMER, LON WEESE (Eva's father), LINDA PLUMMER (Eva's daughter), LON DEAN PLUMMER (leaning forward, Eva's son) and Cora. Front porch setting with CORA and grandson LON.

JOESEPH SPENCER BURKE with his brother HARRY in Ft. Smith, AR on May 2, 1947.