Wilfred Carl Burke, 100, of Belvidere, died at 6:15 a.m. on Sunday, August 14, 2011, at Maple Crest Care Centre. The son of Max and Tillie (Hartman) Kujawski, he was born June 9, 1911, in Chicago. The untimely death of his father in 1917, when the family lived near Knowlton, Wisconsin, influenced the rest of his life. From an early age he took care of his family, beginning his work life as a water boy for a road crew at the age of eight. He and Leona Glaser, whom he married on August 11, 1943, had two daughters, Kathleen and Darlene. Wilfred spent his career in the automobile industry, working for the Studebaker Corporation in South Bend, Indiana, from 1926 until it closed in 1964. He moved to Belvidere, Illinois, as the first tool maker hired at the Chrysler assembly plant, working there from the time it opened until his retirement in 1977. He was active in U.A.W. Local 1268 and its retirees' group. Wilfred served in the U.S. Navy on the U.S.S. Sabine, a tanker in the South Pacific, and was present in Tokyo Harbor at the surrender that ended WWII. He was a long-time member of St. John's United Church of Christ in Belvidere. Wilfred could build or fix almost anything, and made the jump from his mechanical experience to using computers and the Internet in this century. He enjoyed fishing and playing checkers. His checker game faded in the spring of 2011 to the point where his family could compete with him. He is survived by his wife, Leona; daughters Kathleen (Lon) Clark of DeKalb and Darlene (Kerry) Hopperstad of Belvidere; grandchildren Stephen A. Clark of DeKalb and Melissa J. (Ronald Adams) Hopperstad of Rockford; brother George (Jeannette) Burke of Buffalo, New York; sister Ruby Meaders of Los Alamos, New Mexico; and numerous nephews and nieces, including Kathryn Voreis of Dallas, Texas. Predeceased by brothers Calvin and Erwin Burke; sister Irene Mutzl; and grandson Max H.W. Clark.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. John's United Church of Christ or Visiting Nurses Association Hospice.