My good friend Eddie Burke is in a coma, and is not expected to survive it long. I know I’m premature in my grief, but I wanted to let some of it go now, while he is still alive.
Eddie came from Galway, emigrating back in the '50s, and has been an active part of the music here in the Hartford, CT area as a fierce fiddler, and melodeon player. He tells of how he was put in a chair before he was old enough to walk, and a melodeon put in his lap so he could play. He played in ceili bands, including the Kilfenora, and centered his life around his music. I have had the distinct pleasure of driving Eddie to the City Steam Sessions for nearly 3.5 years, and playing alongside him here in New Britain and Glastonbury, enjoying his bone dry sense of humor and rants about everything from New England weather (he detests snow with a passion most people reserve for politics) to car mechanics and doctors.
Eddie has had endless patience, though, when it came to music, and sharing his love for ceili and session music, and he was the first person to teach me a tune just by ear. In session he always knew what tunes I was working on, and made sure that they were played. I went to see him today, to say good bye, and his wife Mary encouraged me to play a tune or too for him, and one foot…he only had one left since the cancer took his right one a month ago…moved in tempo beneath his hospital blankets.
I’m still hoping for a miracle. Mary said that not a Wednesday went by in the past five months that he didn’t say “Well, Amy would be stopping by right around now to pick me up”. I want one more session. We were going to have a benefit for him on Sunday over at the AOH.
I’m not asking for prayers or such, just for appreciation of the ‘old geezers’ in our midst who have so much to offer, and so little time to share it with.
A true Irishman.
So many of his generation had no choice but to emigrate but in doing so found a new world where peace and prosperity did reign. May his legacy be true to those of you who have shared in his times.
Update: Eddie passed away on Friday evening April 1, surrounded by his wife and daughters.
When I opened this thread in February I had been to visit Eddie, and in his hospital room I played a bit of music, half for him, half for the family and friends that wandered in and out. To our astonishment, his (remaining) foot began tapping in time. Later that evening the Morgans came to play for him, and he roused from his coma. It was astonishing and a bit scary.
He went home on hospice care a few days later. All through that time in the hospital people came and played for him, and weak as he was, at one point he held the fiddle and tried to play.
I and others continued to visit with him over the next month and a half, and on two occasions he was able to sit up and play, and often requested a specific tune or set. On St. Patrick’s Day he returned briefly to the hospital, and there we had another session out in the hallway. He went home again, and impromptu sessions in his home continued until the last time, on Thursday, he was only able to say thank you, and I love you. . .he was peaceful and slept throughout.
Information on the wake (yes, of course there will be music) and funeral may be found here.
I do not believe that death is defeat, even when it seems to come before its time. From the bits posted, Eddie seems to have lived a full and rich life and it was his time to move on to a greater experience.
Eddie was a man who had the music and the music had him. I remember Eddie and P.J. sticking their heads together coming up with the next set: the backbone of the session. Eddie had such a beautiful presence always at the session.
