Obituary of Isabel A. Burnside

Isabel H. Burnside, a retired Rockaway Township schoolteacher died peacefully at home, in the company of loved ones, on Tuesday November 25, 2003. She was 97. Mrs. Burnside was active in Rockaway community organizations and programs. Mrs. Burnside was born Isabel Hanna Burns in Huntington, New York on April 5, 1906, the daughter of Matilda and James Burns. She graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa. with a degree in Biology, and worked fro American Steamship prior to her career in education. She was a third grade teacher at the Stony Brook School Rockaway Township for 25 years, retiring in 1976. Throughout her fruitful tenure she delighted in her students and found teaching enjoyable and rewarding. In 1940 she married John F. Burnside and moved to Rockaway. They had one daughter, Priscilla. John Burnside served as Principal in the Rockaway Borough school system. Mrs. Burnside was a member of the Rockaway Borough Board of Heart, the Rockaway Juvenile Conference Committee, The Rockaway Borough Garden Club, and the Rockaway Borough Historical Committee. She was a member of the College Club of Dover, The Morris County Retired Educators Association, The Denville Golden Age Club, The Rockaway Super Seniors, and the Rockaway United Methodist Young at Heart. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Rockaway and Affiliated with the United Methodist Church of the Rockaways. She was active in programs in both churches. In the community, Mrs. Burnside worked consistently behind the scenes, never attracting attention to herself or her service. Her husband and her daughter predeceased Mrs. Burnside in death. Her granddaughter Melissa A. Burnside of Rockaway and a nephew Douglas B. Mead of Worthington, MN survive her. Calling hours on Friday Nov. 28th from 2-4 and 7-9PM at the Norman Dean Home for Services 16 Righter Avenue, Denville, NJ ((73)-627-1880, Funeral services on Saturday Nov. 29th at 10:00AM at the Rockaway United Methodist Church 44 Hoagland Avenue, Rockaway, NJ. Interment Locust Hill Cemetery, Dover, NJ. Friends may send memorial donations to the Rockaway Borough Garden Club, c/o Veronica Margante, Treasurer, 32 Arbor Avenue, Rockaway, NJ 07866 or to a childrens charity of their choice.