Lived in Sand Springs, Oklahoma; Middletown, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kansas.
SS# 431-10-9410
Assistant Vice President of Armco Steel Corporation at time of death. Died at the country club playing gin with friends. Age 61 at time of death. Hospital was St. Joseph's in Kansas City, Missouri. From death certificate #124, Missouri
Obituary reads: Mr. W. J. (Wink) Burcham, 61 year old former Sand Springs resident, died Saturday in Leahwood, Missouri. Mr. Burcham was a member of the Church of God where he was president of his Sunday School class and a substitute teacher. He attended Sand Springs schools and served in the US Navy 1944-45 in communications.
An active civic leader, Mr. Burcham was past president of Sand Springs Rotary Club, past president of Sand Springs area Chamber of Comemrce; a member of Sand Springs Masonic Lodge, past chairman of Sand Springs United Way, member of Sand Springs Hospital Committee Rountable, past director of Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, member and committee chairman of Tulsa 100 Chamber of Commerce, past chariman and member of Salvation Army, member advisory council Salvation Army Home & Hospital, and past director of Indian Nations Council of Boy Scouts of America.
He is survived by his wife, Irene of the home; a daughter, Mary Frances Price, Greendale, Wisconsin; three sons, Jim Burcham, Tulsa, Jeff Burcham, Norman, and Terry Burcham, Muskogee; one sister, Hazel White of Noel, Missouri; one brother, John Burcham of Kansas, and eight grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at 1:00 pm Monday in Mt. Moriah Funeral Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. Additional servies will be held today at 4:00 pm in Mobley-Dodson Funeral Chapel with the Rev. A. A. Kinion officiating. Internment will follow in Woodland Cemetery.
*Sand Springs Times, Tuesday, Aapril 21, 1981. Page 2. Have original document.
**In a letter dated 11 February 1999 from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, it appears that Wink, member #76151, was suspended 12/21/73 for non-payment of dues and never reinstated.
From an article published about him: ARMCO MANAGER TO HEAD POLLAK. W. J. Burcham, manager of the Sand Springs Works of Armco Steel Co., has been elected president of Pollak Steel Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Armco, it was announed Friday.
He will assume his new post Sept 1, succeeding David Pollak. Pollak, a family owned concern, with a mill at Marion, Ohio, and fabricating plant at Cincinnati, is a recent acquisition of Armco Steel.
It is a step up the ladder for Burcham, 52, who has been with Armco Steel over 31 years at the Sand Springs Plant.
During portions of May and June he was in Italy on special assignment in Italy with Armco's International Division.
.....In his new post Burcham will office at Evandale, near Cincinnati, and direct the entire Pollak operation.
....Burcham, known to his friends as "Wink" began as a crane hooker at Armco.
His association with management began soon after World War II when he was elected secretary of Local 2741 of the Steelworkers of America.
When he accepted hsi first management post, as assistant superintendent of the rolling mill, he was slated for the union presidency.
He has served as president of the Sand Spring Chamber of Commerce, and as a director of the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Catoosa. ..."
From "Midwest INdustry" Magazine, March 1971 which featured W. J. Burcham, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma -page 49. Photo is on cover. I have this magazine. The article reads in part...
"W. J. Burcham, Works Manager, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma. In the Depression Year of 1937, Dardanelle, Ark., was not exactly a hotbed of affluence. So it's not too surprising that W. J. "Wink" Burcham's father listened carefully when the Sand Springs, Okla., football coach started talking about better jobs available in the Tulsa suburb.
Of course, the fact that Wink - a nickname that has stuck since grade school - was an especially promising sophomore fullback and his brother, John, an outstanding halfback had nothing to do with i. Naturally, if the family moved to Sand Springs, Wink and John would be playing football there, too.
It should be noted, though, that in 1938, Sand Springs High came out Verdigris Valley Conference football champion and one of the reasons was a driving fullback by the name of W. J. Burcham. In fact, Wink Burcham was good enough to rate a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa in 1940.
The point is not whether such raw university-style recruiting at the high school level is good or bad. It's that this is what brough the manager of Armco Steel's Sand Springs Works to what now is his home town.
At the same time, this event gives an insight to why Burcham is works manager today and not still a rolling mill strander where he started with Armco in 1941.
To become a star halfback in football - whatever the level - takes a tremendous amount of pure guts, a fiercely competitive tenacity to keep driving against overpowering odds, and the willingness to keep coming back for more. It's not the position for a mediocre, half-hearted try. It's only for the individual whose hunger for the top of the head is insatiable.
For Burcham, that taste of wining back in 1938 never has left him. At the same time, though, football also must have taught him another facet of success - the ability to motivate other people, to pull together as part of a team instead of selfishly grasping for individual gratification.
Add to thhis the initiative to keep learing, acquiring new knowledge and new skills and there are the ingredients necessary for steady progress up a corporate ladder.
This quest is only a surface indication of a much deeper personal initiative that was clearly evident to Armco officials even before the long arm of the US Navy reached out to snare him during World War II.
In the year at the Armco palnt before that happened, Burcham moved up quickly through the work force to a spot on the 'cross country' finishing mill.
Burcham came back to his rolling mill job in Sand Springs in 1945. Four years later he was superintendent of rolling mills, having learned the intricate facets of that touchy job by hard experience.
For 10 years, Burcham was rolling mill 'super,' but he spent just one year as assistant works manager - 1959-1960-before being elevated to the post he now holds.
Looking back over that career it's easy to understand why Wink Burcham has the reputation of being an innovator. It's also easy to understand why he has some kind of special rapport with the people who work at Armco-Sand Springs. He knows their problems and they know he knows. They also know they can talk with him and he will understand.
His stint as a finishing mill catcher was all the above ...continiued on page 63."
Wink served on the S. S. Shangrala, Seaman 1st class, Signalman, for 18 months.
Wink prepared a paper called "Experiences with Continuous Casting of Billets" for presentation at Birmingham Regional Technical Meeting of American Iron and Steel Institute, December 7, 1966. Have copy.
Lived in Sand Springs, Oklahoma; Middletown, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kansas.
Lived at 122 Osage Ridge Drive, Sand Springs, Oklahoma 74063, 1972. (Upon the hill)
SS# 431-10-9410
Assistant Vice President of Armco Steel Corporation at time of death. Died at the country club playing gin with friends. Age 61 at time of death. Hospital was St. Joseph's in Kansas City, Missouri. From death certificate #124, Missouri
Obituary reads: Mr. W. J. (Wink) Burcham, 61 year old former Sand Springs resident, died Saturday in Leahwood, Missouri. Mr. Burcham was a member of the Church of God where he was president of his Sunday School class and a substitute teacher. He attended Sand Springs schools and served in the US Navy 1944-45 in communications.
An active civic leader, Mr. Burcham was past president of Sand Springs Rotary Club, past president of Sand Springs area Chamber of Commerce; a member of Sand Springs Masonic Lodge, past chairman of Sand Springs United Way, member of Sand Springs Hospital Committee Rountable, past director of Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, member and committee chairman of Tulsa 100 Chamber of Commerce, past chairman and member of Salvation Army, member advisory council Salvation Army Home & Hospital, and past director of Indian Nations Council of Boy Scouts of America.
He is survived by his wife, Irene of the home; a daughter, Mary Frances Price, Greendale, Wisconsin; three sons, Jim Burcham, Tulsa, Jeff Burcham, Norman, and Terry Burcham, Muskogee; one sister, Hazel White of Noel, Missouri; one brother, John Burcham of Kansas, and eight grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at 1:00 pm Monday in Mt. Moriah Funeral Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. Additional services will be held today at 4:00 pm in Mobley-Dodson Funeral Chapel with the Rev. A. A. Kinion officiating. Internment will follow in Woodland Cemetery.
*Sand Springs Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1981. Page 2. Have original document.
**In a letter dated 11 February 1999 from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, it appears that Wink, member #76151, was suspended 12/21/73 for non-payment of dues and never reinstated.
From an article published about him: ARMCO MANAGER TO HEAD POLLAK. W. J. Burcham, manager of the Sand Springs Works of Armco Steel Co., has been elected president of Pollak Steel Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Armco, it was announced Friday.
He will assume his new post Sept 1, succeeding David Pollak. Pollak, a family owned concern, with a mill at Marion, Ohio, and fabricating plant at Cincinnati, is a recent acquisition of Armco Steel.
It is a step up the ladder for Burcham, 52, who has been with Armco Steel over 31 years at the Sand Springs Plant.
During portions of May and June he was in Italy on special assignment in Italy with Armco's International Division.
.....In his new post Burcham will office at Evandale, near Cincinnati, and direct the entire Pollak operation.
....Burcham, known to his friends as "Wink" began as a crane hooker at Armco.
His association with management began soon after World War II when he was elected secretary of Local 2741 of the Steelworkers of America.
When he accepted his first management post, as assistant superintendent of the rolling mill, he was slated for the union presidency.
He has served as president of the Sand Spring Chamber of Commerce, and as a director of the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Catoosa. ..."
From "Midwest Industry" Magazine, March 1971 which featured W. J. Burcham, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma -page 49. Photo is on cover. I have this magazine. The article reads in part...
"W. J. Burcham, Works Manager, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma. In the Depression Year of 1937, Dardanelle, Ark., was not exactly a hotbed of affluence. So it's not too surprising that W. J. "Wink" Burcham's father listened carefully when the Sand Springs, Okla., football coach started talking about better jobs available in the Tulsa suburb.
Of course, the fact that Wink - a nickname that has stuck since grade school - was an especially promising sophomore fullback and his brother, John, an outstanding halfback had nothing to do with i. Naturally, if the family moved to Sand Springs, Wink and John would be playing football there, too.
It should be noted, though, that in 1938, Sand Springs High came out Verdigris Valley Conference football champion and one of the reasons was a driving fullback by the name of W. J. Burcham. In fact, Wink Burcham was good enough to rate a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa in 1940.
The point is not whether such raw university-style recruiting at the high school level is good or bad. It's that this is what brought the manager of Armco Steel's Sand Springs Works to what now is his home town.
At the same time, this event gives an insight to why Burcham is works manager today and not still a rolling mill strander where he started with Armco in 1941.
To become a star halfback in football - whatever the level - takes a tremendous amount of pure guts, a fiercely competitive tenacity to keep driving against overpowering odds, and the willingness to keep coming back for more. It's not the position for a mediocre, half-hearted try. It's only for the individual whose hunger for the top of the head is insatiable.
For Burcham, that taste of wining back in 1938 never has left him. At the same time, though, football also must have taught him another facet of success - the ability to motivate other people, to pull together as part of a team instead of selfishly grasping for individual gratification.
Add to to this the initiative to keep learning, acquiring new knowledge and new skills and there are the ingredients necessary for steady progress up a corporate ladder.
This quest is only a surface indication of a much deeper personal initiative that was clearly evident to Armco officials even before the long arm of the US Navy reached out to snare him during World War II.
In the year at the Armco plant before that happened, Burcham moved up quickly through the work force to a spot on the 'cross country' finishing mill.
Burcham came back to his rolling mill job in Sand Springs in 1945. Four years later he was superintendent of rolling mills, having learned the intricate facets of that touchy job by hard experience.
For 10 years, Burcham was rolling mill 'super,' but he spent just one year as assistant works manager - 1959-1960-before being elevated to the post he now holds.
Looking back over that career it's easy to understand why Wink Burcham has the reputation of being an innovator. It's also easy to understand why he has some kind of special rapport with the people who work at Armco-Sand Springs. He knows their problems and they know he knows. They also know they can talk with him and he will understand.
His stint as a finishing mill catcher was all the above ...continued on page 63."
Wink served on the S. S. Shangrala, Seaman 1st class, Signalman, for 18 months.
Wink prepared a paper called "Experiences with Continuous Casting of Billets" for presentation at Birmingham Regional Technical Meeting of American Iron and Steel Institute, December 7, 1966. Have copy.
1 _MDCL Had triple by-pass a few years prior to his death in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 5-6 years. Other significant factor was cevebral vascular insufficiency.
Lived in Sand Springs, Oklahoma; Middletown, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kansas.
Lived at 122 Osage Ridge Drive, Sand Springs, Oklahoma 74063, 1972. (Upon the hill)
SS# 431-10-9410
Assistant Vice President of Armco Steel Corporation at time of death. Died at the country club playing gin with friends. Age 61 at time of death. Hospital was St. Joseph's in Kansas City, Missouri. From death certificate #124, Missouri
Obituary reads: Mr. W. J. (Wink) Burcham, 61 year old former Sand Springs resident, died Saturday in Leahwood, Missouri. Mr. Burcham was a member of the Church of God where he was president of his Sunday School class and a substitute teacher. He attended Sand Springs schools and served in the US Navy 1944-45 in communications.
An active civic leader, Mr. Burcham was past president of Sand Springs Rotary Club, past president of Sand Springs area Chamber of Commerce; a member of Sand Springs Masonic Lodge, past chairman of Sand Springs United Way, member of Sand Springs Hospital Committee Rountable, past director of Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, member and committee chairman of Tulsa 100 Chamber of Commerce, past chairman and member of Salvation Army, member advisory council Salvation Army Home & Hospital, and past director of Indian Nations Council of Boy Scouts of America.
He is survived by his wife, Irene of the home; a daughter, Mary Frances Price, Greendale, Wisconsin; three sons, Jim Burcham, Tulsa, Jeff Burcham, Norman, and Terry Burcham, Muskogee; one sister, Hazel White of Noel, Missouri; one brother, John Burcham of Kansas, and eight grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at 1:00 pm Monday in Mt. Moriah Funeral Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. Additional services will be held today at 4:00 pm in Mobley-Dodson Funeral Chapel with the Rev. A. A. Kinion officiating. Internment will follow in Woodland Cemetery.
*Sand Springs Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1981. Page 2. Have original document.
**In a letter dated 11 February 1999 from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, it appears that Wink, member #76151, was suspended 12/21/73 for non-payment of dues and never reinstated.
From an article published about him: ARMCO MANAGER TO HEAD POLLAK. W. J. Burcham, manager of the Sand Springs Works of Armco Steel Co., has been elected president of Pollak Steel Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Armco, it was announced Friday.
He will assume his new post Sept 1, succeeding David Pollak. Pollak, a family owned concern, with a mill at Marion, Ohio, and fabricating plant at Cincinnati, is a recent acquisition of Armco Steel.
It is a step up the ladder for Burcham, 52, who has been with Armco Steel over 31 years at the Sand Springs Plant.
During portions of May and June he was in Italy on special assignment in Italy with Armco's International Division.
.....In his new post Burcham will office at Evandale, near Cincinnati, and direct the entire Pollak operation.
....Burcham, known to his friends as "Wink" began as a crane hooker at Armco.
His association with management began soon after World War II when he was elected secretary of Local 2741 of the Steelworkers of America.
When he accepted his first management post, as assistant superintendent of the rolling mill, he was slated for the union presidency.
He has served as president of the Sand Spring Chamber of Commerce, and as a director of the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Catoosa. ..."
From "Midwest Industry" Magazine, March 1971 which featured W. J. Burcham, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma -page 49. Photo is on cover. I have this magazine. The article reads in part...
"W. J. Burcham, Works Manager, Armco Steel Corp, Sand Springs, Oklahoma. In the Depression Year of 1937, Dardanelle, Ark., was not exactly a hotbed of affluence. So it's not too surprising that W. J. "Wink" Burcham's father listened carefully when the Sand Springs, Okla., football coach started talking about better jobs available in the Tulsa suburb.
Of course, the fact that Wink - a nickname that has stuck since grade school - was an especially promising sophomore fullback and his brother, John, an outstanding halfback had nothing to do with i. Naturally, if the family moved to Sand Springs, Wink and John would be playing football there, too.
It should be noted, though, that in 1938, Sand Springs High came out Verdigris Valley Conference football champion and one of the reasons was a driving fullback by the name of W. J. Burcham. In fact, Wink Burcham was good enough to rate a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa in 1940.
The point is not whether such raw university-style recruiting at the high school level is good or bad. It's that this is what brought the manager of Armco Steel's Sand Springs Works to what now is his home town.
At the same time, this event gives an insight to why Burcham is works manager today and not still a rolling mill strander where he started with Armco in 1941.
To become a star halfback in football - whatever the level - takes a tremendous amount of pure guts, a fiercely competitive tenacity to keep driving against overpowering odds, and the willingness to keep coming back for more. It's not the position for a mediocre, half-hearted try. It's only for the individual whose hunger for the top of the head is insatiable.
For Burcham, that taste of wining back in 1938 never has left him. At the same time, though, football also must have taught him another facet of success - the ability to motivate other people, to pull together as part of a team instead of selfishly grasping for individual gratification.
Add to to this the initiative to keep learning, acquiring new knowledge and new skills and there are the ingredients necessary for steady progress up a corporate ladder.
This quest is only a surface indication of a much deeper personal initiative that was clearly evident to Armco officials even before the long arm of the US Navy reached out to snare him during World War II.
In the year at the Armco plant before that happened, Burcham moved up quickly through the work force to a spot on the 'cross country' finishing mill.
Burcham came back to his rolling mill job in Sand Springs in 1945. Four years later he was superintendent of rolling mills, having learned the intricate facets of that touchy job by hard experience.
For 10 years, Burcham was rolling mill 'super,' but he spent just one year as assistant works manager - 1959-1960-before being elevated to the post he now holds.
Looking back over that career it's easy to understand why Wink Burcham has the reputation of being an innovator. It's also easy to understand why he has some kind of special rapport with the people who work at Armco-Sand Springs. He knows their problems and they know he knows. They also know they can talk with him and he will understand.
His stint as a finishing mill catcher was all the above ...continued on page 63."
Wink served on the S. S. Shangrala, Seaman 1st class, Signalman, for 18 months.
Wink prepared a paper called "Experiences with Continuous Casting of Billets" for presentation at Birmingham Regional Technical Meeting of American Iron and Steel Institute, December 7, 1966. Have copy.