The St. Francis Preparatory community is mourning the loss of one of its guidance counselors after 27-year-old Lee Anne Burke died suddenly from a rare infection.
On Friday, January 25, Burke passed away from bacterial meningitis, a severe infection that affects the brain and spinal cord.
After the cause of death was announced, the Fresh Meadows high school closed for the afternoon, and classes on Tuesday, January 29 were cancelled so that students and staff could attend Burke’s funeral in Malverne, Long Island.
At her wake in New Hyde Park on Monday, January 28, a family friend said that relatives wished to grieve privately after a swarm of media attention because of the circumstances of Burke’s death.
According to Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) spokesperson Sara Markt, there are between 30 and 50 cases of the bacterial infection on average in the city each year, and fewer than a half-dozen of those prove fatal.
Officials investigated whether Burke and a 17-year-old student from Massapequa, Long Island who died a day earlier from the infection were connected but could not find any link.
To contract meningitis from someone infected usually involves spending a prolonged period with that person – such as a roommate. Symptoms include fever, chills, stiff neck, headache, rash, nausea and vomiting.
Loved ones were given preventative medications, Markt said.
“Anyone who was in close contact that the Health Department saw was at risk did receive a single dose of antibiotics,” Markt said, explaining that cases of secondary contraction – where someone catches meningitis from another person who was in contact but did not contract the infection – are very rare.
In the days following Burke’s death, students remembered their guidance counselor, a resident of Bellerose and a graduate of St. John’s University in Jamaica, as a nice and easy to talk to, bringing her baby bulldog to girls softball games. A group in Burke’s memory on the popular networking website, Facebook.com, had more than 450 members as of Monday, January 29.
Junior Petros Georgiou called her “one of the best guidance counselors anyone can have.”
“She helped me with all the problems with school and other subjects. She was always smiling and was always happy when she was walking through the hallways,” he said. “Basically she was a great person who loved to help others and I’m going to miss her very much.”
Alumnae Diana Garcia, who graduated in 2007 and now attends St. John’s University recalled how Burke made cards and bought lollipops for her students on holidays.
Senior Daniel Gutierre of Astoria credited Burke with helping him not get lost in the shuffle after he transferred to the school for his sophomore year. Tow years later, when he was applying for college, she offered guidance.
“I found out Friday morning and half of the entire school was in shock,” he said, later adding, “I really wish she could know how much I appreciated her.”
