Josephine K. Burgess

Josephine K. Burgess

June 4, 1955 - May 25, 2023

            QUEENSBURY - Josephine K. Burgess, whose heart commanded unparalleled goodness and grace, has left us far too soon. We are broken-hearted, and while we know the sun will come up tomorrow, we are not sure it will ever shine quite as bright.

            She died at her home on Thursday, May 25 with her faithful dog Baxter by her side.

            She retired in 2022 from Boston Scientific after a long career as a Senior HR Process Analyst working with people and projects all around the world for 21 years.

            Her meticulous attention to detail and ability to work with people world-wide made her a valuable asset to her company and included one memorable business trip to India. Her goal was always to help her fellow employees.

            Before Boston Scientific, she served as a compensation analyst for Children’s Hospital Boston for seven years.

            In retirement, she served as president of the Surrey Field Homeowners Association where she showed a meticulous attention to detail to benefit her friends and neighbors.

            Jo graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1977 as a home economics major. She was and always will be a Wildcat. Her dream was to become a clothes buyer for a department store chain. She put her skills to good use in 1982 when she made her sister Gillian’s wedding gown.

            After graduating from college, she was selected for an elite management training program at the department store chain Montgomery Ward and moved to Chicago. She later moved back east to work for Lechmere.

            But what made Josephine stand out to friends and family was her sunny disposition that lifted everyone around her.

            She joined the rest of her family in Queensbury in 2000 when she took the job at Boston Scientific. It completed the family.   

            Jo  was predeceased by her parents Robert G. Burgess and Mavis Burgess, and her beloved Rudy, Aussie and Tobey.                     

            Left to cherish her memory is anyone who ever met her, but especially her sister Gillian Tingley of Queensbury, brother-in-law Ken Tingley and the light of her life, her nephew Joseph R.E. Tingley of New Orleans, La.

            She will be especially missed by the Bischoff and Franco families who go back to the beginning when Robert and Mavis Burgess first immigrated to the United States from England with their baby girl Josephine.

            Jo became an honorary aunt to the Bischoff clan for every birthday, holiday, wedding, christening and funeral. Those were times Jo cherished and embraced. It was her second family.

            Jo cherished all her family trips to Hawaii, first with her parents, then with her Gillian’s family. She made one final trip with her close friends Rosie and Ben Bischoff this past fall. She relished every second prowling over the volcanic ash at Mauna Loa, spying the tropical fish at Captain Cook’s Cove, hiking the rim of the Waimea Canyon or ogling the hairpin turns on the Road to Hana. She was always ready for the next luau and margarita that went with it. Among her papers were instructions for her ashes to be scattered in the state of Hawaii with her sister as they were paddled out to sea by a Hawaiian outrigger crew.

            As her nephew Joseph moved from college to jobs in San Antonio and New Orleans, Jo was ready to drop everything to help her nephew. She spent hours in the kitchen at his San Antonio condo papering his shelves. His kitchen was more organized than any bachelor in Texas.

            Each October, Jo and Gillian would begin brainstorming for a Christmas theme to welcome home Joseph. You often found Jo high on a ladder decorating the highest reaches of the Tingley kitchen. Her attention to detail was something to behold.

            She was bright, inquisitive and wished for a better world.

            She certainly did her part.

            Over the last year, she took special delight in working with Baxter in the dog management classes at Dog Logic.

            She belonged to the Society for Human Resources Management and the Capital Region Human Resources Association in Albany.

            She also served on the HR committee for the Adirondack-Saratoga Chapter of the American Red Cross from 2003-2005 and graduated from the Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce leadership program in 2006.

            As much as she accomplished in the world, she will always be our Jo.

            To us, she was perfect, an inspiration.

            She was someone we could depend on and turn to in a time of need.

            We argue now she was needed more here.

            The family wishes to extend their appreciation and gratitude to Lynn Keil, PA-C, who is dedicated to caring for the patient as a whole and not one small part. She is one of the few.  Both Jo and her sister were lucky to find her. 

            Condolences can be made to family and friends on Wednesday, May 31 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Brewer Funeral Home, 24 Church Street, Lake Luzerne followed by a requiem mass for Jo across the street at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 220 Lake Avenue, Lake Luzerne.

            In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Lake Luzerne.

            In preparation for Jo’s final luau, everyone is requested to wear their best Hawaiian Luau attire.

            Aloha.

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