Henry J. Young Award - June (Burke) Lloyd, June 2011
June Burke Lloyd was born in Chanceford Township, near the Brogue, one of two children of Wiley Burke and Olive Shelley Burke. She graduated from Red Lion High School, and married Ronald Lloyd. They have two daughters; Linda and Lisa, son-in-law Alan, two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. June has traveled extensively; visiting such places as Germany, France and Italy with her family, and her friends as well as on trips that she coordinated for the Trust. Perhaps it is this love of travel that has led her away from Chanceford Township. She now lives in Windsor Township, but attends a Chanceford Township church, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, where she too is very active.
I would be remiss in speaking before a group of mostly genealogists if I failed to mention several of the families she descends from. A few and in alphabetical order are Burke, Crosby, Eisenhower, Eveler, Haugh and Shelley. I haven’t found a family connection between us, although her husband Ronny, my husband, and library volunteer Jean Robinson’s husband, all share a Reno ancestor. Such is an example from the York County Heritage Trust Library.
Only her family and her faith surpass her love of history. I asked her about this and she replied that she “always loved history, especially local history because it made the people who lived right here before us come alive.” She explained that several things came together about the same time a little over thirty years ago: she started writing things down that her mother and other relatives knew about the families and then came into the historical society to see what else she could find. She joined the staff of Kaltreider Library about the same time, so she had easy access to Gibson, Prowell and other local history sources. In 1980, Red Lion borough was also gearing up for their 100th anniversary celebration, and she quickly found that her 4th great-grandmother, Sarah Crosby, was the owner of the original Red Lion tavern, so that really spurred her interest. And as she explains… “the more your find, the more you want to know.”
June was the assistant librarian at Kaltreider Memorial Library from 1980 until 1989. It was also during this time that she worked as an archival assistant with the York County Archives on a PHMC “road papers” grant. In 1989 June became the Assistant Librarian at the Historical Society of York County, promoted the following year and served as Librarian and Archivist until her retirement in 2005. During those fifteen years as librarian she dealt with the daily functions of the library, overseeing forty to fifty volunteers, coordinating projects to organize records, as well as seeing to the needs of thousands of both in-house and long-distance researchers. June also oversaw many changes in the library, its expansion including the conversion of the former transportation gallery in a public reading room. She also coordinated the increased presence of technology; going from one computer to nearly a dozen as well as the placement of the Trust’s archival database into the museum program Past Perfect. June would be on a first name basis with the program’s designer, providing input leading to many improvements to the program.
As Trust Librarian, June served as the staff liaison to the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society’s board, and during her spare time she completed two degrees: a B.A. from York College with a major of history and a minor in German, as well as her Masters in American Studies from Penn State Harrisburg. The first thing we discover when working for a small organization is that you perform many duties; the line 13 if you will of the job description. Many of those “line 13” duties showcased June’s talents of designer, researcher, editor, and writer and reached beyond the boundaries of the library. Faith and Family in Fraktur was a YCHT exhibit she helped bring to completion. It coincided with the publication of her master’s thesis and one of our best-seller publications: Faith and Family: PA German Heritage in York County Area Fraktur. Her editing skills were utilized as the staff liason to the Trust’s Publications Committee, a committee she still serves on today.
June was instrumental in the county-wide celebration of the 250th anniversary of its founding in 1999 as well as the celebration honoring the anniversary of the Continental Congress in the county. This 2001celebration, Nine Months in York Town featured the exhibit The Pen is Mightier: Documents from York Town and the American Revolution. Under June’s expertise, numerous original letters and documents from various facilities were on display. These included two timely letters by John and Abigail Adams.
June’s talents extend beyond the doors of the Trust, shown by her memberships with Historic York, the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society, Palatines to America, Pennsylvania German Society, York County Conservation Society, and Winterthur. She has or served on the following boards: Pennsylvania State Historical Records Advisory Board, Red Lion Area Historical Society, and the York County Farm and Natural Lands Trust.
One only needs to pick up a book published on some aspect of York County history to see the author’s word of thanks to June for her assistance. We thank her today for not only her love of history but also her passion of sharing her discoveries with others. It is very easy for Victoria Miller or myself [Lila Fourhman-Schaull] to plant a simple seed, June did you know about this … and the rest is history. And how does she continue to share that history, first two partnerships with the York Daily Record/York Sunday News that include a monthly column as well as maintaining the blog Universal York, where she continually shows us that all roads do lead to York County. June’s contributions to genealogy and in particular local history make her without a doubt especially deserving of one of the 2011 Henry James Young Award.