Gerard Burke:
CLASS OF 1967
Flushing High SchoolClass of 1967
Flushing, NY
Corona Junior High SchoolClass of 1964
Corona, NY
Marino Jeantet Public School 19Class of 1961
Corona, NY
Gerard's Story
I'm a senior analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington DC but I live in Fairfax Station VA with my wife and son. I came to GAO in 1982 after working for 11 years as a newspaper reporter editor, science writer, and university relations editor. I plan to retire within the next year.
My first real job out of college was as a general assignment reporter for The Washington Afro-American Newspaper in Washington DC, a job I held from 1971 to 1978. I'll always remember the AFRO as the place not only where I learned to write a decent sentence and paragraph, but managed to be happy while earning very little money. I was hired at the now unbelievable rate of $65 per week ($49 after taxes weekly; $3380 annually). While if has many permanent residents, of course, DC is a town of transients, including many college students. After college, I lived in a series of affordable (think $75-85 a month for a fully furnished room in early 70s) rooming houses that met my housing needs until I married in 1978. I took most of my meals in the city's many inexpensive cafeterias, short-order restaurants, and carry-outs.
The most memorable things about the reporter's job was the opportunity it afforded to execute many different writing formats (straight news, human interest, features, book and movie reviews) and to discover and describe life in Washington DC's neighborhoods. DC has many cozy, attractive neighborhoods; others are dangerous, to be sure. I also met my wife on the job there. Like me, she had attended Howard University. We met while she was completing a practicum--an intern-type of arrangement--created by the HU School of Communication to provide work experience to prospective graduates. We've been married 35 years as of this June.
I had a number of interesting assignments at the AFRO, including a lengthy D.C. District Court trial of individuals accused of murdering and injuring members of the family of an Hanafi muslim leader, a teacher of former NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The 1973 attack occurred at a home owned by Jabbar and occupied by the Hanafi leader's family. The trial featured riveting testimony from one of the teacher's daughters, who had survived after being shot in the head twice from point blank range. I also covered many community hearings and agency meetings related to plans for what became the DC Metro system.
I was a quiet guy at FHS., so I guess people would be surprised to know that I've been a member of a church choral group most of my adult life. For the last 32 years, I've sung bass in the Mt. Zion Men's Chorus, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Arlington VA. I was president of the group for 16 years. Before Mt. Zion, I had never sung before. However, my traiining as a tuba player at Corona JHS and FHS provided a sound foundation in reading music. I must say that I probably enjoy singing as much as anything I've ever done.
I admit to having done poorly at keeping up with classmates, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to communicate with them. I'd be more than happy to exchange emails with anyone I went to school with (PS 19, Corona JHS, and Flushing HS). I have conversed with a few former school chums (including the now Rev. Calvin Butts, (also a member of the FHS track team)and Fred Fairweather (former JHS classmate and FHS football teammate) several years ago. I have exchanged emails with others (including Ava Garnette S...Expand for more
ims, a former FHS cheerleader and ex-JHS classmate too).
I've been married 31 years to the same wonderful lady, and we have a son who is 16. My two brothers (one in Oregon, the other in Florida) and one sister (in Floriida, near my parents) all are doing well in life, and both my parents are alive and kicking . All in all, life has been very good to me, and I feel blessed and thankful for every new day I see.
Regrets? Walking out of the Law School Aptitude Test instead of finishing it. It didn't seem particularly difficult but I already had a couple of job offers and gave in to the impulse to start working. Having since learned that a numbe of my college classmates became attorneys has only increased my regret. Ironically, my work as an auditor/analyst is grounded in the law and has provided numerous opportunities to review, analyze, and use enacted laws, federal regulations, executive orders, and other legal documents. And I enjoy reading law school journal articles about historical events and individuals
.
Give me a buzz. I'll be glad to hear from you!
Here's a childhood memory I'll never forget: In summer 1966, I nearly drowned in a freshwater lake in Connecticut while attending football camp before my senior year at Flushing HS.After participating in an exhausting contact practice one afternoon,I jumped in the inviting nearby lake hoping to cool off. Instead, I began to sink like a stone and starting thrashing the water in a panic. I remember being surrounded by water as black as ink and seeing my life flash before my eyes like frames from a motion picture reel. I could die here, I thought. I've never forgotten that the main guy who rescued me, Dave Dyson, told me that he couldn't swim. Dave, whereever you are, thanks, man. Funny, it just occurred to me that I had written a short story for my 11th grade English class in which I attempted then aborted my own death by drowning in a river. I remember that the story impressed my teacher (Ms. Spero?), who submitted it to some sort of literary publication that Flushing had at the time. I felt proud about being "published" but frankly was surprised and confused about my own motivation for writing such a grim story. Little did I know that I would nearly drown more than one year later.
If I had it to do over,I would not have walked out of the LSAT without completing it. I attended Howard University in Washington DC and fulfilled my goal of improving my academic performance. Although I graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, however, I actually had not developed a post-undergraduate plan. I had vague notions of going to graduate school or law school, though, and decided to take the LSAT. However, I walked out of the exam about 20 minute after it began at the Georgetown University Law Center in DC. My reason for aborting the test had more to do with being tired of school than with the difficulty of the test itself, which did not strike me as unsurmountable. I remember feeling disenchanted with the idea of spending another 3 years of studying and abruptly deciding that I'd had enough. In retrospect, I wish I had more thoroughly discussed my feelings, values, and goals with someone before even taking the test. I believe that might have focused my thinking more sharpley on the pros and cons of post-graduate education and thereby provided a sounder basis for decisionmaking than relying on gut instinct.
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