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Obituaries

Town's Longest Serving Clerk Ruth Burr Passes at 79

Burr remembered as effective, non-partisan Town Clerk.

Friends and associates remember former longtime Town Clerk Ruth Burr as a “dedicated” manager who was non-partisan, promptly responded to requests for documents and made the “office fun to work in” while serving under six first selectmen.

Burr, who oversaw the municipal records from the mid-1970s until her retirement in the summer 1998, died this week at age 79. She served longer in the position than anyone in Brookfield’s 223-year history.

“She was the face of the town hall,” former Board of Education (BOE) Chairman Matt Grimes said.

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“If you went into her office and asked for a document she would have it for you in and hour or two, or at least the next day,” said former longtime Town Controller Ray Bolek. “She understood people’s needs.”

“She was very intense about the town’s records, but she made the office a fun place to work in,” he added.

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“She was very precise in her recordkeeping,” said John Furlong, a former chairman of the BOE and the Board of Finance (BOF). “The town grew a lot during the years that she was the town clerk, but she kept pace with the changes.”

“She was everything you would look for in a town clerk,” Grimes said. “She was efficient and went by the book.”

Burr said in a 1998 interview that the office changed dramatically during her tenure, noting that it was located in a much smaller space in the former town hall on Route 25, which now houses the offices of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), and moved in 1983 to its current location at the Municipal Center on Pocono Road.

Her family has been active in Brookfield since generations ago when it had dozens of farms.

Her father-in-law, Larry Burr, was first selectman from 1955 to 1961 and her mother-in-law, Helen Burr, was known as Mrs. Republican in Brookfield and was noted throughout Connecticut for her contributions to agriculture.

Ruth Burr’s husband, Donald Burr, was a Post Office carrier for many years. They have two daughters and a son.

“Ruth was immensely dedicated,” said Richard Amorossi, who served on the Board of Selectmen (BOS) in the mid-1990s. “She also was very non-partisan in the way she did business and the way she interacted with people.”

“She was in an environment where she was working with her friends and neighbors and it was a great big happy family,” Bolek said.

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