Mary M. Burger

Mary Matilda Brant Burger, the daughter of Czechoslovakian immigrants Antone and Frances Doshle Brant, was born August 17, 1912, at Wilson, Kansas. She died February 4, 2008, at Hilltop Lodge in Beloit, Kansas, at the age of 95 years, 5 months and 18 days.
As a young girl, Mary moved with her family to Czechoslovakia for a short time and then to Cawker City, Kansas, where she attended school and also worked at her father's meat market.
Mary was united in marriage with Ralph M. Burger in October of 1935 and three sons were born to that union. Ralph and Mary operated Burger's Food Store in Cawker City for 35 years and the couple was privileged to spend more than 62 years of married life together at the time of Ralph's death in March of 1998. After retirement from the grocery business in 1968, Mary continued working as a part-time cook in the Cawker City schools until the age of 75. She received honors from the school district for her service.
Mary was proud of her heritage; she loved Czech polka music and cooking the foods she learned how to make as a girl. She was dedicated to cooking and caring for her family. Until late in her life she canned vegetables grown in the family garden every summer and was a recycler long before recycling became the norm. She could comment on life's situations with a dry sense of humor and would utter tart comments when something displeased her but she never really complained and advised her family to be sure and count their blessings. Mary always delighted in a visit from her grandchildren or her nieces.
She was a member of the Cawker City United Methodist.
Survivors include her three sons, Jim of Cawker City, Ralph and his wife, Ellen of Greenwood, Missouri, and Ron of Dallas, Texas, her grandchildren, Joe of Des Moines Iowa, Kathy of Lee's Summit Missouri and Diane and her husband Tim Jenkins of Billings Montana, and her many nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Bessie Brant Brock.


Memorial services will be at 2:00 PM Friday, March 7 at the Cawker City United Methodist Church with burial following in Prairie Grove Cemetery. Memorials may be given to the Church. There will be no visitation.