occurred
on the night of Feb.18, 1942 when she lost the man she truly loved, Edward Nack, a
crewman on the U.S.S. Pollux, a Navy supply ship that was one of two vessels wrecked by a
storm on the southern coast of Newfoundland.Harried by a powerful Atlantic gale, the
Pollux and destroyer Truxton tried to claw their way into the strait that leads to the
naval base at Argentia Bay, Newfoundland. Instead, the ships were driven onto the rocky
coast near St. Lawrence, Newfoundland .Both crews bandoned ship and desperately tried to
swim ashore through enormous waves. The gallant people of St. Lawrence climbed down huge,
rocky cliffs to rescue 168 floundering sailors, but 200 were lost, including Edward Nack.
Ellen was devastated.
In grateful recognition of the heroism of the people of St. Lawrence, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a hospital built for the village.
Ellen spent much of her life as a telegrapher and radio operator for Western Union and
the Press Wire Service in Manhattan's Times Square and the United Nations’
headquarters in Lake Success, Long Island and Manhattan.
Ellen’s greatest success was her lifelong relationship with her only child, Gene
Edward Burleson. They were unusually devoted, and Gene ended his 22-year Air
Force career to provide a home for his ailing mother during the last years of her life.
EBBG also will always be remembered for compiling her enormous dossier on the Kirkman,
Lee and Burleson families. Ellen III died in Oklahoma City after a stroke on Dec.
26, 1977 age 63). She’s buried in Oklahoma City Memorial Park. near her son's home.
