Jordan Warren Burkey, MD, died on Friday, June 12, 2015, at The Neighborhoods of Quail Creek in Springfield. He was born on July 7, 1923, in Arkansas City, Kansas, to Jordan Warren and Ellen Saunders Burkey. After graduating from Arkansas City High School, he edited the town newspaper's sports page while attending the local community college. The U.S. Army took Jordan out of Kansas in 1943 and moved him around the Midwest until finally sending him to India at the end of World War II. He recalled practically hanging out the porthole as his ship moved up the Hooghly River toward Kolkata. His love of travel never waned, and he visited almost every state and more than 40 countries. Jordan earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Kansas University. While in medical school he met Ruth Jean Wolf, a KU nursing student, and they married in 1951. They lived in Kansas City while Jordan interned at Bethany Hospital and finished his residency at the KU Medical Center. They settled in Springfield where Jordan practiced ear, nose and throat medicine for forty years, retiring in 1995. During 1971-1983 he was also a clinical assistant professor of surgery at the University of Missouri. Maintaining his interest in journalism, Jordan served several years as editor of both Missouri Medicine and the Journal of the Greene County Medical Society. He was a long-time member of Springfield Downtown Rotary and King's Way United Methodist Church. After Ruth died in 2004, Jordan funded the English Garden at Major Close Park in her memory. He is survived by daughter Nancy Benold and husband Stephen Benold, of Georgetown, TX; daughter Janet Perkowski of Spring, TX; son Gregg of Sugar Land, TX; granddaughter Amy Benold Heutel and husband Garth Heutel, and their three children, of Atlanta, GA; grandson Jordan Benold and wife Jessica Benold, and their daughter, of Plano, TX; granddaughter Laura Perkowski of Hayward, CA; and, grandson Alex Perkowski of Spring, TX. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, June 16, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. at Kings Way United Methodist Church. Jordan will be buried with Ruth at Springfield's Missouri State Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be made to Kings Way United Methodist Church or to Close Memorial Park for the English Garden.
