JoAnn Burrows

Published 1:45 pm Wednesday, December 18, 2024

JoAnn Marie Burrows, 99, of Cassopolis, Michigan passed away peacefully in her sleep Sunday, December 15, 2024.

Her life began April 11, 1925, in Roseland, Indiana, the youngest of three children born to the LeRoy and Elizabeth Phillips. At age 11, her family moved to a farm north of Buchanan, Michigan that is still owned by her relatives today. At that time the farm had no electricity or indoor plumbing. JoAnn and her brother Jim were schooled in a one room schoolhouse until high school. She graduated from Buchanan High School and got a job at the Indiana & Michigan electric company demonstrating how to use the new electric stoves. She also worked as a volunteer Red Cross aid during WWII.

JoAnn met William Thomas “Bill” Burrows at the I&M and they married May 13, 1950, in Buchanan. She and Bill had three children and moved to South Bend, Indiana in 1956. She started working at Stone Container Corporation in 1968 and remained there for nineteen years becoming head of Personnel. She and Bill then moved to Diamond Lake in Cassopolis, Michigan in 1973. JoAnn did a lot of volunteer activities and was active in her church. She loved riding in the pontoon boat, gardening, and flowers.

JoAnn will be greatly missed by family and friends. She is survived by her three children, Ann (Wes) McNeel of Palm Desert, California, Mary Frances Burrows of Mishawaka, Indiana, Mark (Christine) Burrows of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan; four grandchildren, Justin (Whitney) Burrows, Nathan McNeel, Julianna (Patrick) Gallagher, Kevin (Stevie Kay) McNeel; eight great grandchildren Teagan, Kade and Fennec McNeel, Adeleine, Luke and Grant Burrows, and Guinevere and Penelope Gallagher; and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of seventy-one years, Bill Burrows, one grandson, Aaron Matthew, her sister Dorothy Yurkovic, and her brother Jim Phillips.

A private family Mass will be celebrated in Our Lady of Lake Catholic Church before JoAnn’s remains are laid to rest beside her beloved husband in Fairview Cemetery in Mishawaka.

JoAnn will be remembered for her love of flowers and devotion to family, friends, home, and church.

The family prefers contributions in memory of JoAnn be made to Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 24832 US-12, Edwardsburg, Michigan 49112 (ourladyedwardsburg.org).

Arrangements have been entrusted to Wagner Family Funerals Connelly Chapel, Cassopolis. Please share a memory or a message online: wagnercares.com.