Gladys Burcham
1925 – 2019
Gladys Burcham, 93, was born at the farm house between Weatherford and Corn to John J. and Katie Hamburger on December 13, 1925. She attended the first eight grades in a one-room school, Enterprise. She graduated from Weatherford High School in 1944 and obtained her bachelor’s degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1948. She taught Mathematics and Home Economics at Orlando, Oklahoma, and in Tulsa at Lowell and Bell; then in 1966-67 she taught at the American-Vietnamese International School in Saigon, Vietnam.
She married Ralph Burcham in 1950 and they celebrated 69 years of marriage on May 27, 2019. In 1960 she helped start an inner city work at West Main Mission. She filled numerous roles at the Memorial Road Church of Christ from 1963 to present.
She and Ralph directed Camp Rock Creek, near Norman, during summers from 1960-66. She helped many Vietnamese families resettle in America after the fall of Vietnam in 1975. She taught one-on-one Bible classes in the U.S. and Vietnam, Europe, Poland, and Hong Kong. She served as Circulation Librarian at Oklahoma Christian University from 1974-1991. In 2001 she was one of the honorees at Oklahoma Christian University’s Spring Dinner.
She is survived by her husband, Ralph of Edmond; one son Roger of Edmond; and one daughter, Kathy who lives in San Francisco, California; one brother, Fred Hamburger of Lawton; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be at the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Edmond at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, August 6, 2019, with interment to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. A public visitation will be held on Monday, August 5 from 1:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at Matthews Funeral Home, the family will not be present for this informal visitation.
My heart has mixed feelings, as I know your hearts do too—happy and sad. I will continue to keep you in my prayers. I might not be able to attend the funeral. My daughter and her two kids are driving to Texas to help my mom for a couple of days. Gather many hugs. Hugs are the band-aid for healing and love.
What a sweet wonderful Christian lady! She was always happy, positive, uplifting and so very funny! What a great example to us all. Many thoughts and prayers to you, Ralph. May you find peace and comfort in all your sweet memories.
Love,
Mark & Rita Rowland
My heart goes out to Ralph with the passing of Gladys. I was aware of their work at Camp Rock Creek, but had never met them. In 1967 while I was on TDY in Vietnam, I was able to visit with them a couple of times and was greatly impressed with work they were accomplishing. Over the past several years I have seen them when I visited Memorial Road. My son who also attends Memorial Road gave me a copy of their book “Vietnam Triumphs and Tragedies, Our Mission Story” which I treasure. I’m sorry that I will not be able to attend the services on Tuesday, but my thoughts will be with Ralph and the family.