James Burns
A private ceremony for James Michael Burns, 56, Mabank, will be held Sunday Jan. 28, 2007, at Elm Grove Cemetery in Mabank.
Burns was born Dec. 16, 1950, in Dallas to Roland and Fairse Jeter Burns and died Jan. 15, 2007, in Kaufman Presbyterian Hospital .
He was preceded in death by his mother, grandparents Crofford and Minnie Jeter and Elmer and Tommie Burns.
He had been in declining health for several years due to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam .
He attended schools in Dallas and graduated from Sunset High School .
After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and completed a tour of duty on the USS Ranger, serving in Vietnam from 1971-73.
He attained the rank of Airman E3, and was honored with the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and a Naval Unit Commendation.
He called Mabank his home and retired from the Texas Department of Transportation, working in Kaufman and Athens .
He loved the outdoors and had gone on several hunting trips to Colorado . He hunted birds in different areas of Texas .
He married Diane Pearson in 1977 and loved the farm where they resided. It had originally belonged to his grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Crofford Jeter.
He remembered many picnics, sleepovers and holidays from his childhood and shared them with his grandchildren.
He was of the Baptist faith and proud of having his name displayed on the Vietnam Monument in the Kaufman County Veterans Memorial Park in Kaufman.
Survivors include his wife Diane, Mabank; son Greg Pearson and wife Kristin; grandchildren Kendall, Brock and Cade Pearson, all of Kaufman; father Roland Burns and his wife Sue, Mabank; brother Jerry Burns and his wife Beverly, Melbourne, Fla.; niece Benay Burns, Winter Park, Fla.; sister-in-laws Margaret Oliver, Mabank; Janice Snyder and her husband Donnie, Kemp; and Robyn Robertson, Trinidad; uncles, aunts and numerous cousins.