WESTFIELD – Constance Mary Burke (Connie), 76, of Westfield, MA, died on Friday, April 6th, 2018 at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield. Born February 26, 1942 in New Haven, CT to the late Joseph William Burke and Beatrice (Rohan) Burke. Connie would recall her early years with great fondness living in the Westville area of New Haven, where she attended St. Aeden’s School. She began performing in various dance and music recitals at a very young age as she recalled, her mother would often have to attend as the accompanying pianist. Her family then moved to East Hartford and she attended St. Mary’s Junior High School, where she was the Class Treasurer and graduated first in her class. She then graduated in 1959 from Mt. St. Joseph’s Prep School (The Mount) in West Hartford, CT where she remained active in performing and was recognized for various creative writing submissions. Connie then attended Trinity College in Washington, DC graduating in 1963, majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and was elected Class Songwriter/Song leader her junior and senior years. She was Copy Editor for the class yearbook, as well as a reporter for the campus newspaper and an editorial assistant and contributor to the literary quarterly. Connie has remained active and connected to the Alumnae community at Trinity College, Washington DC and is already missed by many of her classmates, who will be celebrating their 55th reunion this weekend. After college, she began her career as a writer for CBS , Channel 3, in Hartford, CT creating scripts, promotions, and had some on- air work during the elections and Kennedy assassination. After working for sometime, she voluntarily left her position for some extended travel to Europe and the West Coast. Connie’s life then took her to Hawaii where she worked as a writer for NBC Television, KHON-TV in Honolulu during the Vietnam war years, writing scripts, documentaries, promotion and had some on-air commentary. She then returned to East Hartford, CT where she worked as the Press Representative and Public Relations Officer for the Connecticut Bank and Trust (CBT) in Hartford, CT. She remained in this position until she was married in 1970 to John (Jack) T. Galanek to whom she was married until the early 1990s. Connie then moved to Tolland, MA where Jack had begun development of Wildwood and then relocated to Lincoln Farm in Blandford, MA while beginning a family. She continued to work in advertising, marketing, sales and public relations for various family owned companies which developed and marketed timber, lumber products and recreational and primary residential real estate. Connie and her family moved to Westfield, MA in 1979 where she has lived for the past 39 years . During the 1980s, when her children were school aged, Connie also worked as volunteer case aide at North Hampton State Hospital and was a Board Member and Officer for the Westfield Area Board of Mental Health and Retardation. During the 1980s she returned to pursue her creative writing and television career, researching and developing a proposal and scripts for a series for parent and family education with area psychologists, that sadly was never launched. After her marriage ended, Connie continued work as a freelance writer and as well as a licensed real estate broker in the Westfield- Southwick areas with companies such as Coldwell Banker, Molta Real Estate and Showcase Real Estate. She continued this work until she had some health challenges, including suffering a stroke. Connie has been a devout Christian with a strong faith in God and has been an active member or visitor of many churches in the area and had been active in the March for Jesus, including assisting with press releases.
She took great pride in the City of Westfield and was active in the community and always knowledgeable of her elected officials. Connie has been described in a recent publication as being ‘one of those larger than life personalities’ and for those that knew her over the years , this may be understood. Close friends always described how proud Connie was of her two children, and how proud she was of her grandchildren and their athletic accomplishments and any and all that they may do. She would rarely miss an opportunity to share about her family’s lives. Connie could often recall the most minute details of a quotation, historical event , a movie title or actor or the details of a literary work with such precision that at first, one would want to fact-check her remarks. Beyond the use of some pretty colorful descriptions and the occasional dramatic embellishment (which seemed to increase a bit in her later years as some of her expressive language became elusive at times), her fund of knowledge, memory of the obscure, and verbal abilities have always been noteworthy. Connie was quick with a witty response, a quip , or a rhyme, or some humor and delighted in entertaining for friends and family and took great pride in throwing a party. In addition to her devout faith in God, Connie was also known for her generous and creative spirit as well for her unrelenting drive to make connections with and between people
Connie leaves her son John B. Galanek and his wife April; her daughter Katherine Galanek and her partner Werner Dasbach and her three grandchildren , Samantha and Jack Galanek of Hopkinton, MA and Geran Dasbach of Sunnyside, NY. Connie also leaves several cousins with whom she was quite close: Patricia Gately of Westbrook, CT/Port St. Lucie, FL, Frankie (Lynch) and Bill Abetz of Tolland, CT, Joe Lynch of East Hartford, CT, Jane (Lynch) and Don Zajicek of Pompano Beach, FL, Patricia Rohan of South Windsor, CT, Roy ‘Buster’ Powers of Suffield, CT, Rosemary (Rohan) and Jim Kasper of Marlborough, NH. She also leaves several nieces and nephews. She will no doubt be missed by countless close friends and community members. . A memorial Celebration of her Life will be held at the Southwick Community Episcopal Church (SCEC), 660 College Hwy, Southwick, MA 01077 on Saturday June 2, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made in Constance Burke’s name to the church at SCEC, PO Box 1069, Southwick, MA 01077; In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may also be made in Connie’s name, to Trinity Washington University, Office of Development, 125 Michigan Ave, NE, Washington DC 20017 (www.trinitydc.edu/give) or to any charity, church or faith based institution that may be appropriate or meaningful in remembrance of Connie.
