Richmond Hill

Daniel F. (Junior) Burnsed, 62, passed away on Thursday morning, July 26, at his home.

Mr. Burnsed was born in Savannah, on June 13, 1945, the son of the late Cohen Burnsed and Ruby Williams Burnsed. He was retired after 45 years of service with E. C. Burnsed Painting Contractors.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Sue Tanner and Linda Patricia Burnsed and one brother, G. Russell Jacobs.

Survivors include one son, Randall E. Williams; two daughters, April M. Burnsed and Jamie Burnsed Buhl; ex-spouse, Mary Sue Brown of Savannah; three sisters, Elise Rhodes (Bud) of Pineview, Ga., Juanita Edmondson of Savannah and Mickie Cowart of Bluffton, S.C.; two brothers, David Jacobs (Frances) of Savannah, Ed C. Burnsed of Tybee Island; six grandchildren and a number of nieces and nephews.

The funeral service was held at 11 a.m., Monday, July 30, in the Richmond Hill Funeral Home, Cox Chapel.

Burial was in Greenwich Section of the Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah.

Remembrances: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Burial Fund - Daniel (Junior) Burnsed, c/o Bryan Bank & Trust, P.O. Box 1299, Richmond Hill, GA 31324.

Richmond Hill Funeral Home, Cox Chapel, was in charge of the arrangements.

Savannah

Jeanne Marie Byrnes, 80, of Savannah, and formerly of Fairbanks, Alaska, widow of Thomas Raymond Byrnes, died peacefully in her sleep Thursday morning, July 12, at LeGrace Personal Care Home with family at her bedside. She was under the excellent care of Hospice Savannah.

Born in Scranton, Pa., she was the eldest daughter of the late Paul Lavis and the late Helen Reardon Lavis. After graduating from Central High School, she earned an A.B. degree from Marywood College in Scranton in 1948, majoring in economics with minors in education, French and English. In 1952 she received her M.A. degree in early childhood education with a concentration of remedial reading from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. She was a trained and certified Montessori teacher and a true pioneer in the field of special education. Through out the years she taught her own as well as many hundreds of other children the joy of reading, music and to have awareness and an appreciation and love of nature and being outdoors. Small in stature but large in spirit, she had a passion and a gift for reaching those for whom learning was a challenge. She taught pre-K through fifth grade and special education at various locations in the US and Europe and retired from the Alaska school system after 36 years teaching. In 1955 she was working a part-time job in Baltimore, Md., as a USO dance instructor when she met and eventually married a young soldier, Thomas R. Byrnes of Logan, Utah. After tours in Germany and New Jersey, his Army career took them to Alaska in 1964. In Fairbanks they shared a life and raised a family. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother for many years and he was the Scoutmaster for Troop 10 for over a decade. They square danced together for years as members of the Polar Promenaders. She and Tom were members of the Pioneers of Alaska. She loved to cross country ski with her children and students in the woods near their Birch Hill home. She never missed an opportunity to teach them to read the signs of the street and the woods, to listen to the birds and learn the names of the plants and flowers. She helped found the Fairbanks Montessori School and taught her two youngest children there. A decade later, she returned to teach her two youngest grandchildren there. Jeanne was an active member of St. Raphael Catholic Church in Fairbanks, where she participated in the music ministry; singing and playing the omni-chord, piano, organ and sometimes the guitar, and at Immaculate Conception School where she taught Sunday school and Monroe High School where she worked as librarian. Since moving to Georgia, she has been a member of St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Richmond Hill.

Surviving are two daughters, Kathy Sharpe and her husband, George Derkovitz, of Chicago, Ill., and Maria Mattson and her husband, Bob, of Juneau, Alaska; four sons, Dr. Thomas Byrnes, Jr. and his wife, Kathleen, of Richmond Hill, Ga., Timothy Byrnes and his wife, Eliza, of Fairbank, Daniel Byrnes of Willow, Alaska, and Mark Byrnes of Orange, Calif.; two sisters, Eleanor Gordon of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Mary Carlson of Manhattan, N.Y., and one brother, Robert Lavis of Sonora, Calif.. She also leaves four cherished grandchildren, Erin Byrnes of Savannah, Christopher Byrnes of Richmond Hill, and Jessica and Joseph Byrnes of Fairbanks, and many wonderful nieces, nephews and friends. Jeanne was predeceased by her husband Tom, brothers Paul and John Lavis, and sister, Nancy McKinnon.

A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Friday evening, Aug. 3, at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Richmond Hill, conducted by The Reverend Joseph A. Smith. An informal gathering in the St. Anne’s social hall will follow this service. A second service will be held at St. Raphael’s in Fairbanks at a time and date TBD. Interment will be beside her husband Tom in Birch Hill Cemetery in Fairbanks.

Jeanne’s family would like to acknowledge and thank Brenda Denmark and the staff at LeGrace Personal Care Home in Savannah for the loving kindness and great care provided these last few years and to the Rev. Joseph Smith for his spiritual guidance and prayers and to the parishioner’s of St. Anne’s and St. Raphael Catholic Churches for keeping Jeanne in their prayers.

Remembrances: LeGrace Personal Care Home – 6304 Garrard Avenue, Savannah, Georgia 31405, Hospice Savannah - Post Office Box #13190, Savannah, Georgia 31416-0190, St. Anne’s Catholic Church Building Fund – Post Office Box 648, Richmond Hill, Georgia 31324-0648, or St. Raphael Catholic Church – Post Office Box 10508, Fairbanks, Alaska 99712.

Gamble Funeral Service, Savannah, is in charge of arrangements.

Richmond Hill

Janet Sims Ybarra, 77, died July 29 under the care of Hospice House, Savannah, losing her battle with inflammatory breast cancer. She was a native of Indianapolis, Ind., and a long-time resident of Houston, Texas. She moved to Richmond Hill four years ago and was a parishioner of St. Anne Catholic Church. She served in the Navy as one of the first WAVES in the medical corps and was the first woman sales representative for Smith Kline and French (Glaxo).

She was preceded in death by her parents Edward Kyle and Wilhelmina "Florence" Sims. Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, Jesse and Pam Ybarra of Spring, Texas; daughter, Jana Ybarra of Houston, Texas; and daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Michael Mock of Richmond Hill; brothers and their wives, Edward K. and Sharon Sims of Venice, Fla., and Howard and Ruth Sims of Brownsburg, Ind.; and a sister and her husband, Virginia and Donald Baugh of Carmel, Ind. Several grandchildren and their spouses, and nieces and nephews and their spouses also survive. Funeral mass will be held Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. at St. Anne Catholic Church. Burial will be private.

The family request remembrances be made to: Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 321 High School Rd. NE STE D3 #149, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2648.