Raymond H. Burke
Encyclopedia
Raymond Hugh Burke was a teacher
, businessman
and member of the United States House of Representatives
from Ohio’s third district
.
Raymond H. Burke was born in Nicholsville, Ohio, the son of Daniel Fletcher Burke and Mary Jane McNair. Fletcher Burke was born in Iowa
and was a farmer, mechanic, and machinist who died in the Cincinnati flood of 1884; Mary McNair Burke died when Raymond was six. Raymond went to Clermont County, Ohio
to live with his maternal grandparents. Hugh McNair was born in Scotland
worked as a blacksmith
and was later a postmaster
in Clermont County. There Raymond Burke attended Jackson School and then worked on a farm and in the village while studying to teach in rural schools. He taught at Pendleton School near Point Pleasant, Ohio
in 1899 and 1900. He was a student at Oberlin Academy (1900–02) and Oberlin College
(1902–05) to get a teaching certificate and was graduated with a Bachelor of Science
from the University of Chicago
in 1906.
Raymond Burke was an instructor in geography
, assistant professor of geology
and director of music
at Miami University
from 1906 until 1915 and continuing some post-graduate work at the University of Chicago in the summer sessions. He wrote both the lyrics
and music for the "Miami University Marching Song." He also composed the music for "Old Miami, Alma Mater Song" and "Miami Scalp Song," which was the background music for the Miami Indian dance at athletic contests until the mascot
was changed to the Redhawks. Burke organized the Men's Glee Club in 1907. It held its first performance in February 1908. Shortly afterwards he organized singing groups for women and for men and women singing together that still survive at Miami University.
On June 24, 1908, Raymond H. Burke married Daisy Minnich, a graduate of the Teachers College of Miami University. They had one son, Robert McNair Burke.
Raymond Burke was personnel and employment manager for The Hooven-Owens-Rentschler
Company tool works, a major Hamilton, Ohio
employer, from 1918 to 1923. He then became secretary-treasurer of the Fort Hamilton Automobile agency for three years. He was a special representative at Hamilton for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
for the remainder of his life.
Raymond H. Burke was one of the fifteen members elected to a charter commission in November 1925 to write a new city charter for Hamilton. The commission proposed the council-manager form of government and the charter was adopted in 1926. In 1927, Burke was elected to Hamilton city council and reelected for a total of seven terms through 1942. He served as mayor
of Hamilton the first twelve of those years.
Raymond H. Burke was elected to the Ohio Senate
in 1942, serving one four-year term, after which he was elected as a Republican
to the Eightieth Congress. He served on the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries
. A month after the House was organized, all twelve members of the committee were off to inspect the Panama Canal
, concerned that aircraft carrier
s were now too wide to pass through the Canal. He also served as chairman of the subcommittee on conservation
and wildlife
resources.
Burke was defeated in his reelection attempt in 1948. He returned to Hamilton and was a lecturer in the finance
department of Miami University in 1949 and 1950.
Burke was a Rotarian and a Mason
. He was also active in the YMCA
and local Council
of the Boy Scouts of America
. He was director of a Presbyterian church choir from 1915 until his death.
Burke died in Hamilton and was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, businessman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
and member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Ohio’s third district
Ohio's 3rd congressional district
Ohio's 3rd congressional district includes most of the city of Dayton and its surrounding suburbs and exurbs. It is currently represented by Representative Mike Turner.-List of representatives:-Selected election results:...
.
Raymond H. Burke was born in Nicholsville, Ohio, the son of Daniel Fletcher Burke and Mary Jane McNair. Fletcher Burke was born in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
and was a farmer, mechanic, and machinist who died in the Cincinnati flood of 1884; Mary McNair Burke died when Raymond was six. Raymond went to Clermont County, Ohio
Clermont County, Ohio
Clermont County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, just east of Cincinnati. As of 2010, the population was 197,363. Its county seat is Batavia...
to live with his maternal grandparents. Hugh McNair was born in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
worked as a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
and was later a postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
in Clermont County. There Raymond Burke attended Jackson School and then worked on a farm and in the village while studying to teach in rural schools. He taught at Pendleton School near Point Pleasant, Ohio
Point Pleasant, Ohio
Point Pleasant is a small unincorporated community in southern Monroe Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States. It is located near the mouth of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area at the Ohio River, around 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati. U.S. Route 52 passes through Point...
in 1899 and 1900. He was a student at Oberlin Academy (1900–02) and Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
(1902–05) to get a teaching certificate and was graduated with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1906.
Raymond Burke was an instructor in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, assistant professor of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and director of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
from 1906 until 1915 and continuing some post-graduate work at the University of Chicago in the summer sessions. He wrote both the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and music for the "Miami University Marching Song." He also composed the music for "Old Miami, Alma Mater Song" and "Miami Scalp Song," which was the background music for the Miami Indian dance at athletic contests until the mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
was changed to the Redhawks. Burke organized the Men's Glee Club in 1907. It held its first performance in February 1908. Shortly afterwards he organized singing groups for women and for men and women singing together that still survive at Miami University.
On June 24, 1908, Raymond H. Burke married Daisy Minnich, a graduate of the Teachers College of Miami University. They had one son, Robert McNair Burke.
Raymond Burke was personnel and employment manager for The Hooven-Owens-Rentschler
Hooven-Owens-Rentschler
The firm of Hooven, Owens, Rentschler, and Company manufactured steam and diesel engines in Hamilton, Ohio. Because the firm was frequently known by its initials, H.O.R., the Hooven is sometimes incorrectly rendered as Hoover, and the Owens may be mistaken for Owen.The firm was the successor to the...
Company tool works, a major Hamilton, Ohio
Hamilton, Ohio
Hamilton is a city in Butler County, southwestern Ohio, United States. The population was 62,447 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Butler County. The city is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area....
employer, from 1918 to 1923. He then became secretary-treasurer of the Fort Hamilton Automobile agency for three years. He was a special representative at Hamilton for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Northwestern Mutual is a mutual company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that offers financial services, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability insurance, annuities, mutual funds, and employee benefit services...
for the remainder of his life.
Raymond H. Burke was one of the fifteen members elected to a charter commission in November 1925 to write a new city charter for Hamilton. The commission proposed the council-manager form of government and the charter was adopted in 1926. In 1927, Burke was elected to Hamilton city council and reelected for a total of seven terms through 1942. He served as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Hamilton the first twelve of those years.
Raymond H. Burke was elected to the Ohio Senate
Ohio Senate
The Ohio State Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly, the legislative body for the U.S. state of Ohio. There are 33 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Columbus. The President of the Senate presides over the body when in session, and is currently Tom...
in 1942, serving one four-year term, after which he was elected as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to the Eightieth Congress. He served on the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries
United States Congressional committee
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty . Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction...
. A month after the House was organized, all twelve members of the committee were off to inspect the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
, concerned that aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s were now too wide to pass through the Canal. He also served as chairman of the subcommittee on conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
and wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
resources.
Burke was defeated in his reelection attempt in 1948. He returned to Hamilton and was a lecturer in the finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
department of Miami University in 1949 and 1950.
Burke was a Rotarian and a Mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
. He was also active in the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
and local Council
Scouting in Ohio
Scouting in Ohio has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.-Recent history :...
of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He was director of a Presbyterian church choir from 1915 until his death.
Burke died in Hamilton and was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.
Sources
- Ohio: a four-volume reference library on the history of a great state. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1937, 2520 pgs.
- Blount, Jim. “Raymond Burke composed Miami songs.” Hamilton Journal-News, September 14, 1992.
- Blount, Jim. “Raymond H. Burke also political success.” Hamilton Journal-News, September 21, 1992.