Bob Burkich
1. What year were you born?
1929
2. What is your most vivid memory?
My most vivid memory is probably when I married my wife in the 50’s. We got married here in Versailles and she is deceased, been gone for about 3-4 years now.
3. What are the big world events that you remember occurring throughout your life? How did they impact/shape who you are today?
Probably some of the wars, the Korean war. I was aware of the second world war. The major events in my life were my education and marriage and my wife has been deceased for about 3 years now. It was a great loss, it’s beyond words.
4. What dreams and goals did you have for your life? How did they change?
Goals, well really to continue to learn. I think that we never arrive, there is always something that is a challenge and I look forward to a challenge. My goals have changed according to i guess needs at the time. Of course I had a goal of college, I did several beyond the master's degree. I enjoyed teaching and being with the students and learned a lot from them. I taught here in Woodford County and went to college at Eastern for my bs degree and then to university of Florida for my masters and beyond. I had something like 30 hours beyond my masters.
5. How did you decide what you wanted to do with your life? How do you feel about that choice?
Well I wanted to teach and I did and i felt like i had a successful teaching career. I went from high school chemistry and physics teacher and I became an elementary school principal and then to a middle school principal. I enjoyed the students very much. As a teacher, I was closer to the students and as a principal I had more responsibility.
6. What is the best compliment that you have ever received?
That’s a tough one. There were high points in my life, like my marriage. I had a BS degree and a MA and I went on had equivalent to a Doctorate as far as education in my field. All of those were high points in my life. I have 2 children, a daughter and a son and those are great achievements, especially to see them moving on and being successful. My daughter is a professor at Morehead State University and my son did the same thing. He is a school principal. My wife was a teacher so they really didn't have a choice. They did well.
This is a new experience for me, being at Daisy Hill. An opportunity to do things like this. It has been about a year now and i enjoy it very much. It is very suitable. My wife is deceased, and it makes it hard. We do have opportunities here to interact and talk and that is very important. To have people here to connect with. I look forward to just the solitude of being here. I have opportunities to study, you never get too much of that. I study mainly science because that is what I have the most experience in. I taught chemistry and biology and that was a high point in my life, to do that. I really was the science teacher. A lot of life experiences, everything we do is a new experience. This is a new experience here at Daisy Hill, my needs are being met.