Richard Burns Obituary

Maj Richard Stephen

Burns, USAF, (Ret.)

September 20, 1936

November 26, 2021



Richard Stephen Burns, MSNE, MBA, 85, passed away November 26, 2021, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Richard was born September 20, 1936, in Newark, New Jersey to Louis John and Margaret (Finnegan) Burns. He spent his early years in Nutley, NJ. In 1940 his family moved to Washington, DC. Growing up he attended Catholic schools: Nativity Grammar School; St. John's College High School (Class of 1955); and The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering (BAE Class of 1959). Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an officer and began his 21-year career with the Air Force.

During his service with the Air Force, he obtained both a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering (MSNE) and an MBA. Notable assignments included his work as a technical director at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory where in the late 1960's, at the height of the Cold War, he oversaw underground nuclear testing in Nevada. He also served for five years in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon performing nuclear weapon studies for military planning. He would later recall watching from his Pentagon window as Arlington National Cemetery expanded during the Viet Nam Conflict. His last years of service were at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a project officer, during which time the engineering team he was a part of developed the depleted-uranium bullet, which is used to this day, in the A-10 ground attack aircraft. He retired from the Air Force in 1980. During his Air Force career, he received numerous awards and decorations including the Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Following Richard's retirement from the Air Force, he moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where he worked for seventeen years at the Oak Ridge National Lab and Martin Marietta Energy Systems. During those years he worked as a project manager within various programs including the gas centrifuge program, hazardous waste cleanup, and safety analysis engineering. He retired in 1997.

In 1964 Richard married the love of his life Margaret Louise Devany, beginning a partnership that would last 44 years until her death in 2008. Theirs was a chance meeting when Richard was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base Radar School and Margaret came to visit her sister who was married to a good friend of Richard's. They always delighted at the extraordinary circumstances of an Air Force officer from Washington DC meeting a nurse from New York City in Biloxi, Mississippi. Together they raised two sons, managed many Air Force moves, enjoyed traveling together, and strove to put their Catholic faith into action.

Richard's Catholic faith was central to his life; he was an engaged Catholic who supported many Church and community projects throughout his life. From 1974 to 1980, while members of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Dayton, Ohio, he and his wife were active volunteers with Dismas House, a project for formerly institutionalized mentally ill adults.

In 1985, Richard marshaled a team of volunteers and coordinated with a dozen local churches to establish the Ulster Project of Oak Ridge, later expanding to become the East Tennessee Ulster Project. Under Richard's leadership and the direction of Canon Kerry Waterstone of the Church of Ireland, the Project hosted groups of teens, half Catholic and half Protestant, from Northern Ireland for a month's stay in Oak Ridge. Today, 35 years later, the annual visits continue to foster positive relationships, communication skills, and social engagement that enhances these young lives and their Irish communities.

Following retirement, Richard and Margaret relocated to Tucson, Arizona where they continued their volunteer service. Richard and his wife worked to bring Café Justo (the Just Coffee Project) to St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church. This project supports a sustainable cooperative of rural coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico.

Richard was also a pro-life proponent and devoted significant time and energy to many organizations including volunteering at Reachout Women's Center in Tucson. Among other efforts, he founded a program that supported men who were partners of women with an unplanned pregnancy.

Throughout his life, Richard loved singing and was a regular choir member both at church and in the communities he lived in. The pinnacle of his love of singing occurred in 2017 when, through the University of Arizona Community Chorus, he sang at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Richard loved to stay active and travel. He was widely known as an avid bicycle commuter wherever he worked. He expressed his excitement of riding a bicycle in New York City traffic as much as he enjoyed rural roads and trails. After his wife passed, he took long bike tours throughout the USA, Europe, and Japan. He also biked and walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain multiple times and enjoyed inspiring others to do the same. In 1979, he completed a life goal by running in the Boston Marathon.

Richard was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Louise Devany Burns; infant daughter, Stephanie Marie Burns (1965); brother, Louis John Burns Jr; sister, Paula Sue (Burns) Barnes; and parents, Louis and Margaret Burns. He is survived by his sons, LTC Christopher J. Burns (USA, Ret), (Dawn Catherine Burns), and Kevin Devany Burns MD; grandchildren, Megan Elizabeth, Sarah Anne, and Nicholas Andrew; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services will be on Friday, December 17, 2021, 12:30 pm Visitation, 1:30 pm Rosary, 2:00 pm Funeral Mass followed by Reception at Holy Apostles Catholic Church, 4925 N Carefree Cir, Colorado Springs, CO 80917. The Funeral Mass will be streamed on the Holy Apostles Catholic Church youtube website: https://www.youtube.com/c/HolyApostlesCatholicChurch/videos

He will be buried with his wife and daughter in Tucson, Arizona. Graveside services will on Monday, December 27, 2021 at 11:00 am at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N Oracle Rd, Tucson AZ, 85705.