HELEN YVONNE BURNS

March 7, 1931 - July 9, 2021

Helen Yvonne Burns - Celebrating Her 85th Birthday, which was on March 7, 2016.

A Few Special Videos:

July 20, 2019:  After years of walking five-plus miles a day and once it became no longer safe to do so, Yvonne took up a new habit:  daily feeding of her favorite ducks!  As is obvious by this video, she began feeding them when they were little chicks, but the mother would shake her tail feathers in appreciation as well!

 
June 29, 2019:  It wasn't just ducks who sought out Yvonne's generosity regarding daily bread -- geese were known to seek her out as well!

August 19, 2019:  Yvonne and Robert named this video "McDonald's in reverse."  Basically, you pull up the car, the ducks place their order, after which the passenger in the vehicle (Yvonne in this case) fills their order as they consume in real time, and then the car drives off from the drive through service!

Yvonne posing for a photo at Niagara Falls in 2003 right after a ride in a horse-drawn carriage with her son, Robert.  The horse's name is Bert, and he has a brother, and the tour guides said, "We felt we had to name him Ernie."

Yvonne preparing to feed the ducks in early 2020.

 
Late March, 2019:  Ever-eager to help support her son in any endeavor he pursued, Yvonne was only too happy to serve as a bidder in a video in which her son, Robert, served as auctioneer as part of the Institute for Justice's push to eliminate occupational licensing in many states and replace those licensing requirements with provisions more beneficial to consumers.  During the brief segment above, Yvonne raised her bid paddle to bid on three occasions beginning at the 0:43 mark.  CLICK HERE to see IJ's feature on replacing occupational licensing for low-wage occupations such as auctioneers.

A Few Special Photos:

Yvonne and her son, Robert, welcome the newest member of the Burns household, Fellar, in early 1982.  Fellar would be a valued member of the Burns family from early 1982 until his passing in early 1994.  He was the second of two dogs (the first had the dual name of "Black-White" or "Fellar" and lived with the Burns from 1974 to 1979) to just walk up and decide the 13-acre property (with 3-acre pond which, unlike "Black-White," Fellar LOVED to swim in) just seemed like the place to be!

Yvonne, posing for a photo with her husband, Melven ("Bobby"), and her son, Robert, in 1977.

Yvonne, posing for a photo with her husband, Melven ("Bobby"), her son, Robert, and her mother-in-law, Flora, in 1976.

Yvonne posing for a picture with her husband, Melven ("Bobby") in the early 70s only about two years after moving to their 13-acre home, complete with a 3-acre pond.

Yvonne, posing for a photo with her mother, Helen Powell Lee in the early 70s, just before making one of thousands of walks they took together around the 3-acre pond.  Yvonne's mother, along with her mother-in-law, Flora Burns, both lived with the family on Maribel Deive from 1968 to 1989.

Yvonne's husband of 26 years (1958 - 1984), Melven ("Bobby") takes a few moments to work on the sink of their relatively new home in the early 1970s.

Yvonne's husband, Melven ("Bobby"), and her mother, Helen Powell Lee, watch television together in the early 1970s.

Yvonne poses for a photo in the early 1970s with the man she always said would be, "the only man I could ever want as my husband," Melven ("Bobby") only a couple of years after moving into their new home.

Not long after moving to their new home (complete with a three-acre pond), Yvonne's husband, Melven ("Bobby") Burns, poses for a photo with his father (Robert Edward Burns), and the four-year-old "expert fisherman," his son, Robert Edwin Burns, in 1967.

Not long after moving to their new home (complete with a three-acre pond), Yvonne's son, four-year-old Robert Edwin Burns, shows his "paw-paw Burns" (Robert Edward Burns) how to catch the big one in 1967!  Though paw-paw Burns would go on to be with the Lord only a few months later, there were many, many fish of all varieties (bass, bream, sac-o-lait, catfish, and even the occasional and rare eel) caught in that pond and subsequently fried in cornmeal for the family meal, which was often cooked by either Yvonne or her mother, Helen Powell Lee.

August 13, 2019
One of the "show off" ducks stands out from the crowd by balancing himself on the car window (weeks later, he would literally plop himself -- or herself -- on Robert Burns' right shoulder staring him down for bread) as the ducks and geese gather for their daily supply of bread.

  
December 13, 2020.
Though the COVID restrictions would prevent Yvonne's son, Robert, from being able to take her to feed the ducks beginning in March of 2020 when the restrictions were imposed, he nevertheless tended to them every day in her absence and would tell them that she was thinking of them and was glad they were remaining well fed.

March 7, 2016.  Yvonne celebrates her 86th birthday at Sammy's in Baton Rouge (yes, her son, Robert, continued to close in on the approximate 250 pounds of boiled crawfish he consumes each year).

September 10, 2017.  Yvonne and her son, Robert, celebrate his 54th birthday by enjoying one of many games of bingo together.  Yvonne typically was a very lucky bingo player!

            
March 7, 2020.  Yvonne and her son, Robert, celebrate Yvonne's 89th birthday at Mike Anderson's Seafood in Baton Rouge after having played bingo in Baton Rouge hours before.

November, 2019.  Yvonne enjoying one of her favorite dishes (fried oysters) at Drusilla Seafood in Baton Rouge.  Her mother, Helen Powell Lee, also enjoyed fried oysters very much.  Unlike her mom, however, Yvonne was steadfast that she would not eat any raw oysters (also unlike her brother, Charles, who once ate three dozen on the half shell at Don's Seafood, and her son, Robert, who loves them on the half shell, and her mom, Helen Powell Lee, who also had no qualms about eating them raw).

  
September, 2019.  Yvonne enjoying the dogs who would visit Ollie Steele Burden Manor Nursing Home in Baton Rouge once a month!

November, 2018.  Yvonne and her son, Robert, enjoying boiled crawfish (the first of that season) at Harbor Seafood in Kenner, Louisiana.

  
March 13, 2016.  Yvonne celebrates her 85th birthday (which was actually on March 7, 2016, but the $1,000 games are only on Saturdays) by winning not one, but two, $1,000 games at Coushatta Bingo in Kinder Louisiana.  Yvonne was always quite lucky at bingo!

Yvonne enjoys a late-night desert before heading to bed in mid April of 2018.

Ever the fighter and determined walker all her life (often walking five miles a day even into her late-80s), Yvonne, only days after taking a bad fall in a restaurant and breaking her left arm, was back up and walking in Mall of Louisiana!

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