The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

Maria (Jung) Burnett

Maria (Jung) Burnett, 87, of Delphos, passed away Monday, August 30, 2021, at The Meadows of Delphos, where she had been in hospice care for just a few short days. 

Maria (Jung) Burnett

Maria was born in 1934 in Lauterbach-Hessen, Germany, to Arthur and Lena (Grunewald) Jung, who both preceded her in death. She survived both Nazi Germany and poverty with her parents and five other siblings.

On January 25, 1955, she married Eugene “Gene” Burnett and on October 7, 2015, he preceded her death. Maria bravely moved to the United States with her husband and only daughter later in 1955, not knowing the language or the land. Gene and Maria loved to travel after his military retirement, often traveling to Las Vegas, taking their family back to Germany, and to Michigan to visit her sister, Greta. She loved to play Bingo, knit, crochet, and, during the day, she loved to watch soap operas and “The Price is Right.” 

You’ll remember Maria as the feisty, natural redhead that ran a tight ship at Jim’s Restaurant for many years. She had also worked at the Wheel Inn in Delphos. Her family lovingly nicknamed her “The Drill Sergeant” because of this and she was lovingly known when the great-grandchildren came along as “Grandma Rie”. She loved to serve the public and her gift to the world was always giving more than she received. She frequented the bingo halls in both Lima and Van Wert for many years, playing pull tabs and winning bingo. 

She always said her family is all she had, and she adored every one of them! All three great-grandchildren held a very special place in her heart and she will be greatly missed.  

Maria is survived by her only daughter, Ellen (Jeffery) McGarvey; her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Adrianna (Herb “Trip” Peoples III) Sherrick and her children, Damien Jones and Braxton Sherrick; Dusty (Christine) Hammons and their son, Braden; three stepgrandchildren, Jason McGarvey, Julie Stewart and Melissa Wallace; and many nieces and nephews, both in the United States and Germany.

She was also preceded in death by her five siblings, Bruno, Martha, Greta, Elizabeth, and an infant brother, Helmut. 

There will be no services locally, per her request. She will join her soldier husband at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., at a later date. 

The family requests that memorials be made in her name to any of the following: St Jude Children’s Hospital, The Til Valhalla Project, or Wreaths Across America.

Arrangements have been made through Cowan & Son Funeral Home, Van Wert.

Condolences may be expressed at www.cowanfuneralhome.com.

POSTED: 08/31/21 at 2:52 pm. FILED UNDER: Obituaries