Dr. Milo Burnham
Milo Burnham, 86, passed away on March 7, 2025. A memorial service will be held on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 3 p.m. in the sanctuary at Trinity Presbyterian Church which is located on Hospital Road, Starkville, Mississippi. Visitation with the family will take place in the fellowship hall immediately following the service. Inurnment at the columbarium of The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi will be held at a future date.
Milo is survived by his son Kevin Eric, (wife Tye), and granddaughter Isabella of Brandon, Mississippi and his daughter Rachael Lynn, (husband Jonathan Pybus) and grandsons Jacob Milo and Colton Jonathan of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In addition to his children, their spouses and his grandchildren, Milo is survived by 5 first cousins, one niece (Janine Burnham Ruth) and one nephew (Wayne Stephen Burnham).
Milo Burnham (no middle name) was born in Hackensack Hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey on August 8, 1938. He resided in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey for the first 18 years of his life, and graduated from Wood-Ridge High School in 1956. Milo was named after his great grandfather, Milo Frank Burnham, who was born in Calais, Vermont in 1857. Milo was preceded in death by his parents, Thelma Ducorsky and Allison Wayne Burnham, his grandparents, his three aunts and three uncles, and his brother Gerald Burnham.
Milo was born with a love of horticulture and the growing of plants. This came as no surprise since so many Vermont based ancestors listed their occupation on early US Federal Census forms as “farmer.” Much of Milo’s early horticulture training came from his very close relationship with his Wood-Ridge next door neighbor, a Georgia lady, Blanche Bell. As a child, when ever asked what he was going to do when he grew up, Milo replied “I’m going to Rutgers University and study horticulture”, and that is exactly what he did.
Raised in a single parent home, in his teenage years Milo looked after the property surrounding the small house in which he grew up. Always planting something or rooting cuttings, Milo loved bearded iris, 4 o’clocks, sweet peas, zinnias and marigolds. As soon as he could, Milo took on a paper route and when old enough, got working papers and took a job working after school and on weekends for the Madsen and Christensen Greenhouses, a large commercial greenhouse grower of holiday plants in Wood-Ridge. He worked until he graduated high school and left Wood-Ridge to attend Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey to study horticulture.
Milo never claimed to be especially bright, and high school and standardized tests were hard for him but led to a strong sense of perseverance and the development of good study habits that enabled him to excel in college. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree with High Honors in General Agriculture from Rutgers University in 1960, a Master of Science Degree in Horticulture from the same university in 1961, and a Doctorate in Horticulture from Michigan State University in 1965.
In the summer of 1965, following receipt of his doctorate, Milo married a Michigan girl, Sonja Linda Carlson. Immediately following his marriage in Michigan in 1965, Milo and Sonja headed for Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Louisiana State University where Milo had accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Horticulture, and where he taught a graduate level course in Cytogenetics and another in Plant Morphology. A son, Kevin, was born in Baton Rouge in September 1970, just 6 weeks prior to Milo and family leaving for Starkville, Mississippi and Mississippi State University. Milo had accepted the position of Assistant Extension Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service. A daughter, Rachael Lynn Burnham, was born in 1974. These two children were Milo’s pride and joy for the rest of his life. Milo and Sonja divorced in the summer of 1987.
Milo worked 27 years for Mississippi State University in the capacity of an Extension Horticulturist and at retirement in 1996 held the title of Leader of Extension Horticulture in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department. During his time at MSU, Milo authored many publication among which “The Garden Tabloid”, a home vegetable gardening publication, was for many years the most popular Extension publication. Milo was active in radio and tv and participated in many Extension educational programs. Milo wrote a weekly newspaper column on gardening and hosted a live weekly radio program on gardening. He also served for many years as host of “The Golden Triangle Gardener,” a radio program produced by a local radio station. He continued to host this program for several years after retirement. Following Milo’s retirement Starkville local garden clubs had a tree and plaque of appreciation placed outside Dorman Hall on the Mississippi State University campus.
Milo developed a late in life interest in voice, much to his mother’s amusement, she being a professional vocalist in her young life, and became a member of the Starkville/MSU Symphony Chorus and the Trinity Presbyterian Church Choir, utilizing his rich bass voice for his own enjoyment and that of others. He participated in a vocal group, Cross Fire, and also sang with the Columbus Choral Society and the Trinity Presbyterian Church group called The Men in Black. For several years he traveled to Columbus, Mississippi to participate as a member of the chorus in the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah. Other community activities Milo participated in were Starkville’s Board of Adjustments and Appeals, City Beautification Committee, and the Board of Directors of the Starkville Symphony Association, Board of Directors of the Starkville Community Theater, and the Starkville Jaycees.
Milo never lost his interest in gardening and after retirement from Mississippi State University in 1996, he developed a strong interest in daylilies. In 1999, he started a daylily breeding program which gave him great pleasure when the new seedlings bloomed each May. This he said was like having Christmas every day. Though he never named or released any daylily varieties his efforts produced many very attractive unnamed seedlings which he freely shared with gardening friends.
Milo thought of himself as a pretty good cook and enjoyed preparing food for family and friends. He loved collecting art and added many pieces to his collection from the Kentuck Festival and local art fairs. Milo also loved the many pets he had during his life including birds, dogs, and goldfish.
Long after he should have, Milo developed an interest in his family history. Milo worked hard on tracing and developing a genealogy of his family, a combination of his mother’s Russian immigrants with his father’s old Vermont, New England and French Canadian families. Milo spent a whole week in the Mormon Church Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and made many trips to look at microfilm at the Latter Day Saint Library in Columbus, Mississippi. With the advent of ancestry.com, Milo spent countless hours on-line on his computer tracking his New England extended family members.
After a fall which broke his hip in 2021, Milo moved to The Blake in Flowood, MS, to be closer to family. While there, he became an active resident participating in painting classes, going out to lunch with the “lunch bunch”, and playing cards.
Although a large amount of Milo’s time was dedicated to his job and many interests and hobbies, his children and grandchildren were the center of his life and he loved spending time with them. He loved them unconditionally, and they provided him with much joy.
Contributions in memory of Milo can be made to: The National Audubon Society, 225 Varick St., New York, NY, 10014. Phone: 212-979-3196. www.audubon.org
