Raymond Hugh Burke (November 4, 1881 – August 18, 1954) was a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

and member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Ohio's third district. Raymond H. Burke was born in

Nicholsville, Ohio Nicholsville is an unincorporated community in Clermont County, in the U.S. state of Ohio. History Nicholsville was originally called Feetown, and under the latter name was plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral ...

, the son of Daniel Fletcher Burke and Mary Jane McNair. Fletcher Burke was born in

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

and was a farmer, mechanic, and machinist who died in the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

flood of 1884; Mary McNair Burke died when Raymond was six. Raymond went to

Clermont County, Ohio Clermont County, popularly called Clermont ( ), is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 208,601. Ordinanced in 1800 as part of the Virginia Military District, Clermont is Ohio's eighth oldest county, th ...

to live with his maternal grandparents. Hugh McNair was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

and was later a

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in Clermont County. There Raymond Burke attended Jackson School and then worked on a farm and in the village while studying to teach in rural schools. He taught at Pendleton School near

Point Pleasant, Ohio Point Pleasant is a small unincorporated community in southern Monroe Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States. It is on the Ohio River, around southeast of Cincinnati. U.S. Route 52 passes through Point Pleasant, where it intersect ...

in 1899 and 1900. He was a student at

Oberlin Academy Oberlin Academy Preparatory School, originally Oberlin Institute and then Preparatory Department of Oberlin College, was a private preparatory school in Oberlin, Ohio which operated from 1833 until 1916. It opened as Oberlin Institute which bec ...

(1900–02) and

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

(1902–05) to get a teaching certificate and was graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1906. Raymond Burke was an instructor in

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

, assistant professor of

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

and director of

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

from 1906 until 1915 and continuing some post-graduate work at the University of Chicago in the summer sessions. He wrote both the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

and music for Miami's fight song, the "Miami University Marching Song." The tune was adapted in 1919 for Wave the Flag, the University of Chicago's fight song. He also composed the music for "Old Miami, Alma Mater Song" and "Miami Scalp Song," which was the background music for the Miami Indian dance at athletic contests until the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...

was changed to the Redhawks. Burke organized the Miami University Men's Glee Club in 1907. It held its first performance in February 1908, ending the concert with the premiere of Burke's songs that are now known as the university's fight song and alma mater. The Miami Men's Glee Club continues this tradition today, ending its annual fall and spring concerts with the fight song and alma mater. After the great success of the Glee Club, he organized other singing groups for women and for men and women singing together that still survive at Miami University. On June 24, 1908, Raymond H. Burke married Daisy Minnich, a graduate of the Teachers College of Miami University. They had one son, Robert McNair Burke. Raymond Burke was personnel and employment manager for The

Hooven-Owens-Rentschler The firm of Hooven, Owens, Rentschler, and Company manufactured steam and diesel engines in Hamilton, Ohio. Because the firm was frequently known by its initials, H.O.R., the ''Hooven'' is sometimes incorrectly rendered as ''Hoover'', and the ''Ow ...

Company tool works, a major

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Ohio, United States. Located north of Cincinnati, Hamilton is the second largest city in the Greater Cincinnati area and the 10th largest city in Ohio. The population was 63,399 at ...

employer, from 1918 to 1923. He then became secretary-treasurer of the Fort Hamilton Automobile agency for three years. He was a special representative at Hamilton for

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Northwestern Mutual is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investm ...

for the remainder of his life. Raymond H. Burke was one of the fifteen members elected to a charter commission in November 1925 to write a new

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document ('' charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charte ...

for Hamilton. The commission proposed the council-manager form of government and the charter was adopted in 1926. In 1927, Burke was elected to Hamilton city council and reelected for a total of seven terms through 1942. He served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Hamilton the first twelve of those years. Raymond H. Burke was elected to the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the s ...

in 1942, serving one four-year term, after which he was elected as a Republican to the

Eightieth Congress The 80th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1947, ...

. He served on the House

Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries The United States House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries is a defunct committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries was created on December 21, 1887, replacing the Select Committee on Amer ...

. A month after the House was organized, all twelve members of the committee were off to inspect the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

, concerned that

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s were now too wide to pass through the Canal. He also served as chairman of the subcommittee on

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

and

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

resources. Burke was defeated in his reelection attempt in 1948. He returned to Hamilton and was a lecturer in the

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

department of Miami University in 1949 and 1950. Burke was a

Rotarian Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

and a Mason. He was also active in the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and local Council of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in ...

. He was director of a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

church choir from 1915 until his death. Burke died in Hamilton in 1954 and was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

Notes

Sources

* Ohio: a four-volume reference library on the history of a great state. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1937, 2520 pgs. * Blount, Jim. "Raymond Burke composed Miami songs." Hamilton Journal-News, September 14, 1992. * Blount, Jim. "Raymond H. Burke also political success." Hamilton Journal-News, September 21, 1992.

External links

* * Miami University Men's Glee Club (Wikipedia page)
Miami University Men's Glee Club (official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Raymond H. 1881 births 1954 deaths Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio Oberlin College alumni University of Chicago alumni Miami University faculty People from Clermont County, Ohio Republican Party Ohio state senators 20th-century American politicians People from Hamilton, Ohio