Winifred Burdan

Winifred Serl Burdan, 95, of Littleton, Colorado, died February 11, 2026

Winifred was born on Sep 22, 1930, in Los Angeles, CA. She was the first of four children born to Harold N. and Winnetta Marie Banks.

Winifred grew up in California and Washington. As a young teen she was a mountain climber and was a member of the Ski Patrol (she was the 77th woman member of the National Ski Patrol). Winifred and her two sisters worked at the Stevens Pass Ski resort outside of Everett WA., and each has a ski slope named after them. She and her sisters climbed many of the Cascade Mountain Peaks within a couple of hours of Everett WA., including snow covered peaks of Mt. St. Helens (WA), Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan.

After graduation from High School in Everett, WA, Winifred decided to become a nurse. She went to the Providence School of Nursing in Everett where she became a Registered

Nurse (RN). After graduation she worked for two years at Swedish Hospital in Seattle as an operating room nurse, then she decided to join the Air Force. She joined during the Korean War and was assigned to the 9th Bomb Wing at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. There Winifred met the love of her life, John William Burdan Jr, when he was a patient at the Mountain Home AFB hospital. He was a B-29 navigator. They got married on December 2, 1954. They had six children, who grew up at various Air Force Bases around the country and in Germany.

Winifred and John were married for 59 ½ years, and spent 29 of them in the Air Force. They were stationed in seven states and had 2 tours in Germany. She spent a year alone with the children in Tucson, Arizona during John’s wartime tour at Pleiku AFB, South Vietnam.

John retired from the Air Force in 1980, and he and Winifred settled down in Littleton, Colorado. She found work as a travel agent and eventually became a partner in a travel agency business. She was a member of the Denver Posse of the Westeners, the Ghost Town Club of Colorado and a Director of Volunteers at the Ft. Logan Museum in Denver, CO. She was also a member of Mother Cabrini Catholic Church. Her hobbies included needlework, skiing, hiking, and reading. Winifred and John loved to 4-wheel with friends on the backcountry trails in the San Juan Mountains and in the Colorado front range. She skied in the Colorado Rockies until her late 70s. She lived an adventurous outdoor-oriented life.

Winifred was a kind and compassionate person. She did her best to support her family in all of their endeavors. She was the one you went to with all of your problems especially if you weren’t sure how dad was going to react.

She is preceded in death by her husband, John W. Burdan, Jr., parents and siblings, a daughter, Nancy Serl Burdan, and a son, Andrew Curtis Burdan.

Surviving family members include John William Burdan III and wife Bridget, Rachel Ann Burdan, Hope Malone Burdan, Mark Stephan Burdan and wife Tami, 11 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

Cremation is planned. Mass of Christian Burial will be Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 11:00 A.M. at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, Emporia, Kansas. The Rosary will be recited at the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home Wednesday evening, February 25, 2026 at 6:30 with the family receiving friends following. Additional services will be held later in Denver, Colorado with inurnment in the Fort Logan National Cemetery.

A memorial has been established with the building fund of the Sacred Heart of Jesus School, with contributions sent in care of the funeral home, PO Box #175, Emporia, Kansas 66801.