They alerted the Trenton Lions Club, which was spearheading the search to fill the city’s cavity of not having a dentist, that their brother was graduating.
Dr. Burley and his wife, Donna, whom he dated in high school, moved to Trenton and he served as a dentist for 55 years and a community leader even longer.
“We had a good life here,” Donna Burley said. “This became our home.”
Dr. Burley died on April 20 at Ohio’s Hospice of Butler & Warren Counties. He was 90.
He retired on July 3, 2013, his 79th birthday.
When asked why he didn’t retire earlier, Dr. Burley said: “To be honest, I enjoy working. This is where I like to be. But I wanted to get out before I died with my boots on.”
He was very active in the community, serving 26 years on the Trenton and Edgewood Boards of Education, including as board president many of those years. He played a big part in starting the Edgewood School District.
He was a member of Trenton Lions Club for over 60 years, serving in leadership positions most of that time. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Middletown since 1958 and served many years on the Board of Trustees. He was also a board member for Middletown Regional Hospital.
Burley was selected to the Edgewood Athletic Hall of Fame as a booster and he chaired the Charter Committee when Trenton first became a city in 1971.
His son, Dr. Alan Burley, a dentist who worked with his father for 34 years, said his father believed that being active in the community was his way of “paying back” the Lions Club for its financial support in bringing him to Trenton. The service organization gave Dr. Burley a $5,000 note to purchase dental equipment when he was hired.
Dr. Alan Burley, 68, a 1974 Edgewood High School graduate, said people assumed he’d follow his father into the dentistry profession.
“I was determined to do anything but that,” he said.
He has no regrets in his dental decision.
“It all worked out,” he said.
Dr. John Burley is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Donna; sons, Alan (Cindy) of Trenton and Kevin (Dorie) of Pickerington, Ohio; grandchildren, Adam Burley, Becky (Drue) Van Horn, Amanda (Elliott) Spence, Bobbi Jo (Ryan) Jonard and Rennea Burley; and great grandchildren, Irelyn, Gabe, Lilly, Killian, Rowan, Jacob, Logan and Bryghton.
Funeral services were held last week.
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