Person Page - 124

     Ada Emily Andrews was born in October 1869 in San Francisco, California, USA.³ She married Robert Duke Burness, son of John Young Burness and Mary Ann Forbes, circa 1897.^3,1 She died on 12 April 1915 in San Francisco, California, USA, at age 45.⁴
     Ada E. Burness (wife, age 31) was enumerated in the census on 1 June 1900 in 3839 21st Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.³ Ada E. Burness (wife, age 40) was enumerated in the census on 15 April 1910 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁵

     Dorothy Ada Burness was born on 26 December 1898 in California, USA.² She was the daughter of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews.^3,4,5 She married Charles Knudson Ross on 15 May 1920 in San Francisco, California, USA.⁶ She died on 11 July 1989 in San Luis Obispo County, California, USA, at age 90.²
     Dorothy Burness (daughter, age 1) was enumerated in the census on 1 June 1900 in 3839 21st Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.³ Dorothy Burness (daughter, age 12) was enumerated in the census on 15 April 1910 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁴ Dorothy Burness (daughter, age 22) was enumerated in the census on 1 January 1920 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert Burness. She was a bookkeeper.⁵ Dorothy Ross (wife, age 32) was enumerated in the census on 19 April 1930 in 2446 Cochran Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the household of Charles Ross.⁷

     Verel J. Burness was born on 31 March 1901 in San Francisco, California, USA.^2,3 She was the daughter of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews.^1,4,5 She married William Burr Robbins.³ She died on 4 April 1986 in Carmel, Monterey County, California, USA, at age 85.^2,6
     Verel J. Burness (daughter, age 9) was enumerated in the census on 15 April 1910 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.¹ Verel Burness (daughter, age 18) was enumerated in the census on 1 January 1920 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert Burness.⁴ Veral Burness (daughter, age 22) was enumerated in the census on 9 April 1930 in 257 27th Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness. She was a business college teacher.⁵

     Jean Audrey Burness was born on 4 February 1908 in San Francisco, California, USA.^2,3 She was the daughter of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews.^4,5 She married Richard Marion White on 4 August 1935 in San Francisco, California, USA.⁶ She died on 28 August 1991 in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, USA, at age 83.^1,7
     Jean A. Burness (daughter, age 2) was enumerated in the census on 15 April 1910 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁴ Jean Burness (daughter, age 13) was enumerated in the census on 1 January 1920 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert Burness.⁵
     Jean A. Burness was enumerated in the census on 8 April 1930 in 9th Street, San Joaquin, Fresno County, California, USA, as a public school teacher, age 22.⁸

     Arthur Douglas Burness was born on 2 March 1900 in San Francisco, California, USA.^2,1 He was the son of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews.^2,3,1 He died on 30 January 1929 in San Francisco, California, USA, at age 28.⁴
     Arthur D. Burness (son, age 2 months) was enumerated in the census on 1 June 1900 in 3839 21st Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.² Arthur D. Burness (son, age 10) was enumerated in the census on 15 April 1910 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.³
     Arthur Burness was enumerated in the census on 10 January 1920 in 2191 Mission Street, San Francisco, California, USA, as a confectioner, age 20.⁵

     William Burr Robbins was born on 20 July 1898 in California, USA.² He married Verel J. Burness, daughter of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews.³ He died on 23 January 1988 in Carmel, Monterey County, California, USA, at age 89.^2,1

     Richard Marion White was born on 8 July 1910 in Paso Robles, California, USA.^1,2 He married Jean Audrey Burness, daughter of Robert Duke Burness and Ada Emily Andrews, on 4 August 1935 in San Francisco, California, USA.³ He died on 25 September 2003 in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, USA, at age 93.⁴

     Marion Edith Williams was born on 5 May 1890 in Buffalo, New York, USA.^2,3 She married Robert Duke Burness, son of John Young Burness and Mary Ann Forbes, on 28 April 1916 in San Francisco, California, USA.^1,4 She died on 23 September 1979 in San Francisco, California, USA, at age 89.^5,3
     Marion E. Burness (wife, age 49) was enumerated in the census on 1 January 1920 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert Burness.⁶ Marion E. Burness (wife, age 40) was enumerated in the census on 9 April 1930 in 257 27th Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁷ Marion E. Burness (wife, age 47) was enumerated in the census on 13 April 1940 in 846-41st Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁸

     Robert Duke Burness was born on 9 March 1917 in San Francisco, California, USA.^1,2 He was the son of Robert Duke Burness and Marion Edith Williams.^3,4,5 He married Florence Anne Waller on 12 August 1939 in Hollister, San Benito County, California, USA.³ He died on 20 February 2011 in Oakmont, Santa Rosa, California, USA, at age 93.⁶
     Robert Burness Jr. (son, age 2 years 10 months) was enumerated in the census on 1 January 1920 in 569 Hill Street, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert Burness.⁴ Robert D. Burness Jr. (son, age 13) was enumerated in the census on 9 April 1930 in 257 27th Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA, in the household of Robert D. Burness.⁵
     Robert D. Burness Jr. was enumerated in the census on 24 April 1940 in 379-38th Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA, as a bakery accountant, age 23 with Florence Anne Waller in his household.⁷
     Obituary: Robert D. Burness Jr., a San Francisco native and a hospital executive whose career spanned 35 years, died at his Oakmont home on Feb. 20 after a long illness. He was 93. Burness was an active member of the Oakmont community for almost 20 years. He was chief executive officer of Mills Memorial Hospital in San Mateo from 1955 to 1980, a period that saw major transformations in health care. “Hospital administrators these days never hold a job for 35 years; it is usually four or five,” said his wife, Judy, of Santa Rosa. “I think he had great dignity and great self control and was very fair and very warm and very thoughtful,” she said. “Consequently, even when he was dealing with difficult people, people always wanted to behave well around him. He brought out the best in people.” Burness attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, where he was trained as an accountant. He worked at Langendorf Bakery before joining an accounting firm that assigned him to Mills Memorial Hospital. The hospital hired him as an assistant administrator and then later he was appointed the chief executive officer, a post he held for 25 years and through changes in the health care system that included the introduction of Medicare and government funding and regulation. “If he had retired one year earlier, he would never have experienced a nurses’ strike, that is how different it was in those days,” his wife said. “There was always the issue of balancing the doctors and the board and the nurses and the other employees. He adjusted to them and dealt with them.” Burness was a fellow and regent of the American College of Hospital Administrators, president of the California Hospital Association and a board member of other civic, professional and business groups. The couple moved to Inverness after Burness retired, where he was a member of the Inverness Yacht Club and served on the boards of the Inverness Public Utility District, West Marin Senior Services and West Marin Paths. Even in retirement he was always taking a leadership role, his wife said. “He wasn’t that much of a joiner, but when he was interested in something, he was willing to put in his time,” she said. At Oakmont, he helped found the digital photography club, was president of the domino club and helped organize the computer learning center. He was also an avid cyclist. “We bicycled through Scotland on our own, through the border country, 500 miles in May one year, it was a wonderful trip,” Judy Burness said. Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Claudia Kirkland of Eugene, Ore., and Elizabeth Mitchell of Salt Lake City, Utah; four grandsons and four great-grandchildren; a brother, Forbes Burness of Rocklin; and a sister, Marion Looney of Des Moines, Wash. A memorial service will be held at the Oakmont West Recreation Center at 12:30 p.m. on March 12.⁶

     Obituary: Robert Duke Burness Jr., former chief administrator at Mills Memorial Hospital and president of the California Hospital Association and San Mateo Downtown Association, died Feb. 20 at the age of 93. Burness' grandson, Foster City resident Wayne Weathers, said the cause of death was cancer. His grandfather had been battling the illness for the past year and a half. Burness was born in San Francisco and spent much of his life on the Peninsula, including stays in Burlingame and San Mateo. He was trained as an accountant in his early adulthood and married fellow Bay Area resident Florence Waller. In 1949, the San Mateo hospital currently known as Mills Health Center hired Burness as an assistant administrator. He became chief executive officer six years later. Burness, one of the "movers and shakers" in the industry, oversaw the implementation of Medicare at the hospital and worked there during two major renovations, his grandson said. Described by Weathers as a born leader, Burness was also a fellow and regent of the American College of Hospital Administrators and an active Kiwanian. After his first wife passed away in 1975, Burness married San Francisco resident Judy Shucknecht a few years later. He retired in 1980, and the two moved to Marin County. In his retirement, Burness enjoyed such hobbies as hiking, biking, photography and tennis. Burness traveled frequently and in his late 70s completed a bike ride with friends from Oregon to Idaho. Burness and his wife moved in 1993 to Santa Rosa, where he became president of a Macintosh users' group and a domino club and founded his own digital photography club. Weathers described his grandfather as set in his morals yet open-minded and approachable, always interested in new technology and fresh ways of doing things. "He's kind of a strong-principled, Scottish grandfather," Weathers said. "Kind of quiet, always an intellectual and easy to talk to, but definitely firm in his beliefs." Burness is survived his wife, two siblings, two daughters, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for 12:30 p.m. on March 12 at West Recreation Center at Oakmont Village, 6575 Oakmont Drive, Santa Rosa.⁸