Thomas Burkey

Thomas Gee Burkey, 86, departed this this life Sunday, July 4, 2021 in Chambersburg, PA, after a short battle with cancer. Tom was born May 27, 1935 in West Chester, PA, a son of the late Walter C. and Dorothy Gee Burkey. He spent his childhood in Malvern, PA and graduated from the Tredyffrin-Easttown High School, Berwyn in 1952. He, his father, and his brother were active in Boy Scouting when he was young, and he went on to become an Eagle Scout in Willistown Troop 78. Tom then attended Penn State University and studied forestry at the Mont Alto Campus. While there, he met Nancy Horst of Chambersburg, whom he married June of 1954. Tom became an electrical contractor and the owner and manager of Horst Electric, Chambersburg from 1967 until his retirement in 1997.

In addition, he managed several other family businesses for most of his life, including T.G. Burkey and Associates, Horst-Burkey Farms, and H and B Real Estate. He was a partner in Bennett Williams, Inc., a real estate and management company based in York. He had also been a director of The Chambersburg Trust Company, board member of the Orrstown Bank, board member and former President of the Chambersburg Cemetery Company, a director of the Merchants and Businessmen’s Mutual Insurance Company, and the Vice President of the Valley Mutual Insurance Company, as well as a director of the Chambersburg Area Development Corporation.

He was Past Master of the George Washington Lodge No. 143, Free and Accepted Masons. In 1964 he was the youngest man at the time to become Worshipful Master there. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Past Master of the Lodge. As a young man, he was a volunteer fireman with both the Franklin Fire Company and the old Cumberland Valley Fire Company in Chambersburg. He also spent a summer in California fighting forest fires when he was a forestry student before his marriage.

Tom’s overriding passion in life was trapshooting, and he devoted much time and energy to the sport. He was the treasurer of the Amateur Trapshooting Association from 1990 until his retirement from that post about a year ago. He was a director and a major sponsor of the ATA Hall of Fame in Sparta, IL. He had also served as treasurer and vice president for the Pennsylvanian State Sportsmen’s Association (PSSA). In 2014, he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Trapshooting Hall of Fame, located at the PSSA’s headquarters in Elysburg, PA. He was a two-time ATA All-American, and his other honors as a trap shooter included: 2002-2013 Member Pennsylvania State Clay Pidgeon Shooters’ Veterans Team, 2005 Member ATA/Trap & Field All American Senior Veteran’s Team, and 2001 Captain, Pennsylvania State Clay Pidgeon Veteran’s Team. He was still actively shooting until shortly before his final illness. He belonged to the Greencastle Sportsmen’s Club, the St. Thomas Sportsmen’s Association, and the Carlisle Fish & Game Association. He was a regular shooter with the Franklin County Trap League for many years. Another hobby was collecting antique Pennsylvania long rifles made in Franklin County and he wrote a book about his extensive collection of them. Additionally, Tom was very interested in and knowledgeable about the American Civil War, and in the 1960s he was involved with the North-South Skirmish Association.

Tom belonged to various other organizations including: the Kentucky Long Rifle Association, the National Rifle Association, the Chambersburg Elks Club B.P.O.E., the Chambersburg Club (life member), the Colye Free Library Association (he was a Past President), the Rotary Club of Chambersburg, York Rite Masonry, Zembo Shrine A.A.O.N.M.S., the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, the Sons of the American Revolution (he was a Past President of the Conococheague Chapter), the Pennsylvania German Society, the Lancaster County Mennonite Historical Society, the Renfrew Museum, and the Franklin County Historical Society-Kittochtinny. Tom was a member of First Lutheran Church in Chambersburg.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Horst Burkey, who passed away in 2006. Surviving family members are his brother, Stanley W. Burkey of Kampala, Uganda, his daughter, Suellen Burkey of Chambersburg, his granddaughter Annie Klebanoff of Brooklyn, NY; and a niece and nephew.
A Masonic service will be conducted by members of George Washington Lodge #143 F&AM at 1:00 PM Saturday, July 10, 2021 in the Chapel of Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 333 Falling Spring Road, Chambersburg, PA. A funeral service to celebrate his life will immediately follow the Masonic Service. Interment will be in Cedar Grove Cemetery. The family will receive friends from Noon until services begin at 1:00 PM Saturday at the funeral home.