Born October 19, 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Anthony Regis Burns, Junior lived a life of both internal and external exploration, and he strove to experience the fullest possible degree of beauty and magic through his travels and in his relationships with other people.  He died Sunday, December 12, in Seattle, of a neurological condition caused by his exposure to Agent Orange during his military service in Vietnam.

The first child and son of Agnes Batrala and Anthony Regis Burns, Senior, Tony’s boyhood years were replete with adventures with his long-remembered friends in the woods near the family home in Avalon, on the street cars of Pittsburgh, science studies at Avalon High School, sibling shenanigans with his sisters Veronica Burns (deceased), Victoria (Vicki) Waterbury (Boston, Massachusetts), Jean (Jami) Burns (Columbus, Ohio), and Regina (Gina) Burns-Fulkerson (Chapel Hill, North Carolina).  He also served as an altar boy at Sacred Heart Church.

After graduating from Bethany College (1966) in West Virginia, he was accepted into Officers’ Training School by the U.S. Navy, and trained as a Naval Aviator and in Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) techniques.  He specialized as a bombardier and navigator in preparation for reconnaissance and combat missions in Vietnam and in the Mediterranean (at the time of Syria's invasion of Jordan), from 1967 to 1971.

Lieutenant Burns flew the Navy’s new all-weather A6 Intruders with Attack Squadrons 65 (the Flying Tigers) and 34 (the Blue Blasters), aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, the USS Enterprise, and USS John F. Kennedy.  Prior to shipping out, he married Ruthie Sewell (Wooster, Ohio).  His love for their sons, Anthony Regis Burns, III (Tacoma, Washington), and Ian Nicholas Burns (Oakland, California) as well as his Ian’s daughter (and Tony’s granddaughter) Raina, with Kimberly A. White (Oakland, California) was deep, wide, and enduring.

Tony received numerous medals and commendations for his work with the U.S. Navy, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal, a Silver Star, the Legion of Merit medal, a Bronze Star, and a Navy Commendation (with Valor) for "heroic achievement" and "superb airmanship, courage, and devotion to duty" during a particularly difficult night mission on February 1, 1969 in Vietnam.

While successful by military standards, his military service and the role of the military in contemporary life troubled him deeply.  Following his Honorable Discharge, while reacquainting himself with his family and returning to civilian life, he began a life-long process of dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and shame he felt for his role in the Vietnam War.   Believing he had a debt to pay, he engaged in anti-war activities and grassroots politics for the rest of his life.  In recent years, Tony supported Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich's work, and was active in movements to establish a Department of Peace and to eliminate the World Bank.

In the early 1970s, the Burns family moved to southwestern Oregon.  Although family-life was disrupted by divorce in 1972, Tony continued his graduate and doctoral studies at the University of Oregon (Eugene), and immersed himself in the healing pleasures of sailing, mountaineering, and flying.  After teaching at the University of Oregon and at Southwestern Oregon Community College (Coos Bay), he began his career in clinical psychology as Director at the White Bird Clinic, in Eugene.  Tony's clinical specialties included working with Veterans and others suffering from PTSD, substance abuse, and those needing family counseling and child protective services assessments.  Aside from White Bird, he directed or provided therapeutic counseling at clinics in Coos Bay and Klamath Falls (in Oregon), and in Spokane, Port Angeles, Everett, Bellevue, and Pierce County (in Washington State).  He also enjoyed a diverse private practice in the Puget Sound area, including leading therapeutic groups for men in Seattle and Edmonds (Washington).

As a childhood friend put it, Tony lived the life of ten men.  Aside from his military, family, and professional responsibilities, he traveled the world, including escapades in France and Spain with his longtime friend Buddy Akacich (Danville, California), and to Portugal, Thailand, Indonesia, Holland, Belize, Guatemala, South America, Italy, Africa, China, Japan, and Vietnam (as a civilian).  He enjoyed long rides on his Harley, as well as sailing, kayaking, hiking, and bicycling throughout the West and Northwest, and scuba diving and snorkeling many of the world’s significant dive locations.  A man for all seasons, he also enjoyed an unabashed and fearless approach to cooking (whether at home, in the mountains, or on an Alaskan fishing boat), his dogs and cat, poetry and essay writing, guitar and piano playing, making and enjoying art, downhill skiing, and teaching other people to sail.  He worked with the Social Justice Committee of the Kitsap Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Bremerton) to present a monthly film series on social-justice issues, and he was active in initial efforts to found the Kitsap Food Cooperative.  Tony was one of several founders of the Silver Lake Winery, a consumer-owned winery (Zillah and Woodinville, Washington).   He also was a “regular” at the gym on the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard grounds in Bremerton, Washington.

Tony’s values also were reflected in the causes and organizations he supported over the years, including the Jane Goodall Institute, the Seattle Art Museum, the League of Women Voters, numerous environmental and wildlife defense funds, the American Civil Liberties Union, and to breast cancer research.

            To his last day, Tony strove to understand others and be understood by them.  He felt most fortunate to have been visited during the last week of life by his three surviving sisters and his two sons, and he appreciated the support of everyone who made those visits possible.   He also valued his community of friends, both those in the Puget Sound area, and those throughout the country with whom he had been in long-standing email contact.

            In the last months of his life, he was cared for by kind and hardworking staff at the Seattle Veterans Administration hospital and at Queen Anne Healthcare, as well his personal aide-de-camp, Tim Tiernan, from the home healthcare agency Help Unlimited.

            The traits he valued most in those he knew were absolute honesty, faithfulness, intelligence, self-knowledge and self-esteem, the openness and ability to discuss the hardest issues and to resolve conflict rather than run from or escalate it, a deep appreciation of the natural world, and humor.  He wrote, “The real worth in life is in the deepest emotional commitments we share, and if we are fortunate enough to find someone who goes as deeply toward us at the same time, then we are truly fulfilled.”

            Son to his parents, brother to four sisters, father to two sons, and uncle to many nieces and nephews, he was engaged to marry Helen Lucinda Welborn, of Seattle, who, with his sister Jami, was with him when he died. 

            Remembrances can be made to the Friends of Washoe (FOW), a non-profit organization in Ellensburg, Washington dedicated to replacing human exploitation with human compassion, and establishing peace between the human species and all the other members of creation.  Find FOW on the web at http://www.friendsofwashoe.org.   Imagine!