By: Stephanie Prokop
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIPThe description under Anna T. Burr’s 1918 senior yearbook photograph read "anger she knowth not, and a fair smile she hath for all, community residents recall her kind spirit."
Influential local teacher and native Bordentonian Anna T. Burr died at the age of 107 on Sunday at her home at the Medford Leas retirement community in Medford.
Ms. Burr was born March 12, 1900, and she said before her birthday this year that she has seen it all when it comes to modern conveniences, including the first time that her father, mother and brother had electricity in their Bordentown home.
She was born in Bordentown, and raised in a house on the corner of Farnsworth Avenue and Crosswicks Street. She was the daughter of the late Samuel and Elizabeth C.T. Burr and lived in Bordentown until 1983.
Ms. Burr graduated from the New Jersey Normal School (now known as The College of New Jersey) in the early 1920s. After she obtained her bachelor’s degree in education, she went on to get a master’s in education from Rutgers University. Ms. Burr became a teacher but never married, saying that she never found a person who suited her.
She taught for 10 years at Bordentown High School, Bordentown Middle School and Bordentown Elementary School, and then served for 24 years as a school administrator in Bordentown.
She recently went back to Bordentown to tour the new Bordentown Regional High School building on Ward Avenue that was a far cry from the more primitive schools in which she had once taught
Ms. Burr was astonished when she glanced down at the various doors in the main office that housed the assistant principal and the guidance counselor exclaiming that she had to do all of that herself.
Ms. Burr was keenly aware of any wrongdoings that her pupils tried to commit while she was principal, according to Bordentown High graduate Roy Parcels on the day of the tour. Mr. Parcels said that when he experienced Ms. Burr’s authority she was tough but fair. "She used to read the riot act for students who were late or cutting class," he recalled.
Charles Fisher, who used to teach science and physical education at the Clara Barton School (back when it was an elementary/junior high school), said that as a principal, Ms. Burr was on top of everything, and that he started out in teaching with the best in terms of principals.
When Mr. Fisher heard of Ms. Burr’s passing, he said that he was "very sad to hear about it, because she was such a great lady," he said.
"She was just a very well respected person by everyone, and she did a tremendous amount of things for the entire community," he added.
Involvement in the community is something that Ms. Burr took very seriously, as she was involved in five different Bordentown City civic organizations and was the president of most of them. She was also a member of four historical, four professional, 10 educational and two charitable organizations.
Memorial services for Ms. Burr will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Medford Leas, and again at 2 p.m. July 13 at the First Baptist Church in Bordentown.

