Dr. Burke Forrest, 83, died December 2015 in San Marcos, TX, after a short illness. She lived in Wimberley TX after retiring from the University of Maryland's overseas program. She was born January 1932 in Jamestown, VA, and lived in Pittsburg, PA, with her husband Samuel Mencher until his early death. Burke and their two children then moved to California. She is survived by son Chris of Blue Eye, MO and daughter Jennifer of Encinitas. She will be greatly missed by them, her friends and staff at Regency Care Center in San Marcos and by her friends and colleagues in Wimberley.

Burke earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology and graduate degrees in sociology from the University of California at San Diego. She completed ethnographic field work in several locales including California, England and Zambia. Her teaching experience included the University of California at San Diego, Loyola Marymount University, and California State University at Long Beach.  

Burke joined the UMUC Asian Division faculty in 1992, and was an instant hit with her students. Her first teaching assignment was at Misawa, Japan. Beside Misawa, Burke taught mostly in Okinawa, Japan, and for a short period in Seoul, Korea. She was also a pioneer in Asia’s Distance Education program. Her husband Steve Madison joined her in Okinawa, where he worked for UMUC as a field rep. until his untimely death 2004.

Burke retired to Texas in 2006 much to the regret of both students and colleagues. Burke was always able to take a mundane incident and plug it into some sociological fact that would explain the event and make it interesting.  She was determined to experience Japan to the fullest and was always planning day trips or walking adventures. Her love of life shown through especially when she would get lost, make it into an adventure, and have a great time, with an excellent story to tell friends over drinks at the end of the day.