Princeton businessman dies at 80

PRINCETON — A long-time Princeton businessman was laid to rest Monday morning.

Vern Burwell, 80, of Princeton died Wednesday at Perry Memorial Hospital. He was a Sears Roebuck store manager and was with the company 34 years. He owned and operated Burwell Real Estate in Princeton 25 years.

When asked to share their memories about Burwell, the first word that came to several friends and acquaintances’ minds was unique.

“He was a unique person,” Princeton Mayor Keith Cain said. “He always had something to tell you, and he could make you laugh about anything.”

Cain knew Burwell for almost 30 years and said he was an important businessman in Princeton.

“He was passionate about Princeton and Bureau County, and he didn’t mind speaking his mind,” Cain said. “I admired that about him. With his hat and his pipe, Vern was always a unique individual. He will be missed.”

Former Princeton Mayor Dick Welte also described Burwell as unique.

“He had his way about him,” Welte said.

Welte also remembered Burwell as a good storyteller and a great writer, and a “very conscientious” man.

Burwell’s office wasn’t far from the former location of the Bureau County Republican on South Main Street, and he was a familiar figure at the paper as well. BCR Editor Terri Simon said Burwell would frequently stop to talk to her on his trips to the post office.

“Many times, he’d be troubled about a certain happening, and he’d talk to me about it,” she said. “If he was impassioned about a subject, he often stopped in every day and talked to me about the same thing, hoping I’d write a story about the issue.”

Simon said what she remembered most was that Burwell was always respectful.

“I could tell he had given the topic much thought, and he measured his words carefully,” she said. “When someone is that caught up in a specific issue, they aren’t always careful about what they say, but Vern always was. He didn’t mince words, but he chose those words carefully. In a day and age when people don’t often care whose toes they step on, I always admired that about him.”