- Date Of Birth: September 18, 1938
- Date Of Death: December 16, 2021
- State: Connecticut
Jacqueline Mary (Peknic) Burns of Ridgefield, Connecticut died peacefully at home on December 16, 2021. She was 83 years old.
Jacqueline was born in New York City on September 18, 1938. She was the second of five children born to Kathryn (Delmore) and Charles Peknic.
Jackie graduated from St. Ignatius Loyola School in 1952. Four years later, in 1956, she graduated from St. Lawrence Academy on the Upper East Side.
After her high school graduation, on November 21, 1956, Jackie entered the Helpers of the Holy Souls. While serving as a Helper, Jackie formed many friendships that would last her entire lifetime. During this time, she began a new chapter as a nurse. She graduated from the Columbus Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois in 1963. In 1965, Jackie left the Helpers of the Holy Souls and moved back to New York City.
From 1965-1968, Jackie worked as an emergency room nurse at St. John’s Queens Hospital in New York. It was there that she met her future husband, Police Officer Gerard Burns, in the emergency room. They were married on July 22, 1967. Together, they had four daughters. Mary Jacqueline, Elizabeth Ann, Katharine Florence, and Agnes Grace (predeceased).
In 1978, Jackie graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She then attended Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, earning a PhD in Cell Biology and Genetics in 1984.
From 1984-1988, Jackie worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering. From 1988-2005, Jackie worked as the Director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory at Danbury Hospital.
She spent her retired years surrounded daily by her loving family. “Nana” helped raise three of her grandchildren, Connor, Caroline, and Caitlin, in a multi-generational home filled with faith, love, generosity, and kindness.
Jackie leaves behind two brothers, Charles (Gerry) and Christopher (Sandy), her daughters Mary, Liz (Ted), and Katie (George), her grandchildren, Audrey, Joseph, Connor, Caroline, and Caitlin, and a great-granddaughter, Anna. She also leaves behind many cherished nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her sisters, Kathleen and Patricia, her husband Gerard, and her daughter, Agnes.
