Rena Burke | Church volunteer, 78

Rena Burke, 78, of West Philadelphia, a retired Sears, Roebuck & Co. employee and church volunteer, died of lung cancer Wednesday, April 13, at Lankenau Hospital.

When Mrs. Burke was 2, her father died in an automobile accident. She, her mother, and two siblings moved in with her maternal grandparents in South Philadelphia. She was a graduate of South Philadelphia High School.

From 1960 to 1991, Mrs. Burke was a catalog order processor at the Sears merchandise building on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia. After retiring from Sears, she was a school crossing guard in West Philadelphia for 13 years.

Mrs. Burke was an active member of the Social Ministry Committee at Tabernacle Evangelical Lutheran Church. Until becoming ill, she volunteered every Saturday with the church's share program, feeding needy families and the homeless.

She mentored children in her West Philadelphia neighborhood, and they called her "grandmom," said a daughter, Denise Johnson. She also spent time with her own grandchildren, reading to them and teaching them family values, her daughter said.

She enjoyed playing pinochle with friends.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Burke is survived by another daughter, Valerie Brooks; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Her husband, Marshall, died in 2005.

A funeral will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 23, at Tabernacle Evangelical Lutheran Church, 5843 Spruce St. Friends may call from 8. Burial will be in Rolling Green Memorial Park, West Chester.