John Mitchel Burns

Mitchel Burns, age 68, of Brookfield, died Saturday, September 15, 2018, at Carroll County Memorial Hospital in Carrollton from injuries sustained after stopping to help a farmer in trouble.

Funeral services will be Thursday, September 20, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church in Brookfield with Father Jerry Kaimann officiating.  Burial will be in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Brookfield.  Visitation will be Wednesday, September 19, 2018, beginning at 1:00 p.m. with a Rosary at 5:30. The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 in the evening at Wright Funeral Home in Brookfield.

John Mitchel, son of John and Norma Jean (Cassady) Burns, was born March 7, 1950, in Brookfield. He was a 1968 graduate of Brookfield High School and a 1972 graduate of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville where he received his bachelor of science in education in American history and later a master of arts in counseling psychology. On July 24, 2010, he married Anne Rodgers Cordray.

Mr. Burns began his twenty-six-year teaching career and coached basketball at Wheeling High School.  He later taught at Polo R-7 and then Brookfield R-3 until his retirement in 1998 to return to his first love – farming.  Mitchel worked alongside his father, John and son, Ryan raising cattle.

Mitchel was very innovative and self-driven.  In his lifetime he successfully built a 1929 Pietenpol Aircamper and a Little Wing LW-5 Gyroplane using only aircraft plans.  He also constructed his own canoe that he raced in the MR340 river canoe race from Kansas City to St. Louis.

He had a passion for cornhusking and had written two books, “The National” and “The Cornhusking Tradition.” He was the Missouri State Cornhusking Champion from 2011 to 2016 and was the National Cornhusking Champion in 2006 and 2015. 

Mitchel loved to spend time with his family and enjoyed playing the harmonica.  He was an honest and hardworking man that taught many life lessons to the youth in the community.  In the 1970s and 1980s he had a hay hauling business that provided a steady job and income to many of his BHS students.

Survivors include his wife, Anne of the home; his parents, John and Sandra Burns of Brookfield; one son, John Ryan Burns of Brookfield; two daughters, Lauren Buckholtz and husband Steele of Port Allen, Louisiana, and Courtney Weber and husband Josh of Leander, Texas; two step-daughters, Whitney Teeter and husband Taylor of Marceline and Abby Cordray and friend Ayo Ojolola of St. Louis; five grandchildren, Olivia and Graham Mitchel Weber, Steele Buckholtz II, and Louis and Julien Teeter; one brother, Bob Burns and wife Debbie of Portland, Oregon; two sisters, Linda Burns Warden and husband David of Stillwater, Minnesota, and Anita Burns Washam and husband Earl of Kearney; one niece, Sierra Lamadore and husband Scott; two nephews, DJ Warden and wife Erin and Daniel Warden; two uncles, Kenneth Burns and wife Martha and Ellis Burns and wife Leoma; and several cousins.

His mother Norma Jean Burns and grandparents, Alpha and Mildred Burns and Elver and Nellie Cassady preceded him in death.

Memorials to the Mitchel Burns Scholarship Fund or Fr. McCartan School Foundation may be left at or mailed to Wright Funeral Home, P.O. Box 496, Brookfield, MO 64628.

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