Shreveport, LA – A memorial service celebrating the life of Tressie Mae Johnson Burns will be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at Centuries Memorial Funeral Home, 8801 Mansfield Road, Shreveport, LA 71108. Officiating will be her grandson, Bradley S. Burns. Visitation for family and friends will be held from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm prior to funeral services at Centuries Memorial Funeral Home.
Tressie was born on June 29, 1925 to Wilbur Royce Johnson and Flora Mae Hearon Johnson in Americus, Georgia and passed away November 27, 2013 at Colonial Oaks Nursing Home in Bossier City, LA.
Tressie spent her childhood between the family’s home in Savannah Georgia and their property in Gooseberry Georgia, near Plains. She loved Shirley Temple, roller-skating, and school and dreamed of being a teacher. In the summer of 1941, at the age of 16, Tressie met the love of her life, Robert Glenn Burns, in Savannah where he was on leave from training camp for the US Army Air Corps. The couple married September 12, 1941, but shortly after were separated for four long years while Glenn was fighting, and then captured in the Philippines by the Japanese in World War II. While waiting for word from her husband, Tressie lived with her mother-in-law at her home in Cedar Grove, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Glenn survived three years in a Japanese prison camp and returned home in the summer of 1945. Shortly after, the couple moved into a home on Tulane Street in Shreveport that Glenn built himself. There they lived together for the next 60 years. Tressie was a devoted stay at home mom for her three sons and taught Sunday school and sang in the choir at Caddo Heights Baptist Church for many years.
In 1965, Tressie got a job at Beall-Ladymon department store to help her oldest son through college. Mrs. Burns was a beloved fixture in women’s ready-to-wear, where every customer was a friend, and she always answered the phone “Hello, may I help you?” She retired after 28 years.
Tressie was a phenomenal cook and hostess. She loved to entertain, and as the family grew, so did Thanksgiving dinners enjoyed at the family home where no one was ever left hungry. Her greatest joy was having a house full of family. She loved to laugh, play cards, tell stories and sing.
Tressie spent the last years of her life taking tender loving care of her husband once he was moved to a nursing home. She would drive there and stay with him every day, leaving only once he went to sleep at night. After 70 years of marriage, they were separated two years ago when Glenn died, and it has been Tressie’s hope ever since to be reunited with him in heaven.
In addition to her parents, Tressie was predeceased by her brothers, Wilbur, Royce Jr., and James R. Johnson. Left to treasure her memory are her sons Hubert Glen Burns and wife Donna of Bossier City, Gary Robert Burns of Shreveport, Ronald Gene Burns and wife Paula of Tyler, Texas; grandchildren Jacqueline Burns Shemwell and husband Dee Wade Shemwell, Bradley Burns and wife Libby, Anthony Burns, Matthew Burns, Lyndsey Burns, Hannah Burns Barfield and husband Michael and Samantha Burns; great-grandchildren Neely, Brianna, Connor and Logan Burns; and Zachary and Joshua Shemwell; brother Warren V. Johnson and wife Peggy, sister Flora “Leona” Gradick and sisters-in-law Rosalind T. Burns and Mary V. “Jenny” Barney as well as many nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank the nurses, aids and staff of the Colonial Oaks Nursing Home and Nurse Practitioner Pam Patten.
Memorials may be sent to charities of your choice.
Scripture: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21: 3-4 ESV)
You may offer condolences and sign the online guest book by visiting www.centuriesmemorialfh.com.
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