J. Carey Burke

Long time beloved Las Vegas resident and historian Carey Burke has passed away. Carey was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 13th,1936 as the oldest child and the only boy of his siblings (Judy, Jackie, Becky, and Rose). When he was young, Carey’s parents uprooted the family in hopes of a brighter future. They were traveling to California in search of work and happened to stop in Las Vegas along the way where, as luck would have it, his father was hired on the spot. The family settled in the area, but circumstances soon changed, leaving his mother to provide for five children alone. Carey began working at the age of 14 and worked throughout high school to help his mother and his sisters support the family, often giving the entirety of his paycheck to contribute. Despite this stress, Carey managed to keep up with his studies and graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1955. In 1957, he then got a job at Bonanza Airlines, where he remained with all of the buyouts and mergers until he retired. Soon after he started at Bonanza, Carey met the love of his life, Pat, who was working as a front desk agent for the same company. Carey and Pat married in 1959 and had their first child, a son Carey, nine months later. The couple bought a home and then welcomed their daughter, Tish, in 1961. A dedicated family man, Carey relished the responsibility of being a husband and father and worked hard enough to ensure that his wife Pat was able to remain at home with their children while they were young. Carey took great pride in taking care of his family and continued to do so until his death on March 21, 2024. Carey always enjoyed Las Vegas and his interest in the history of the city grew rapidly as he began collecting casino chips and gaming tokens in the late 60’s. He became so interested in the subject that he and two friends started a local informal chip club to increase interest and participation in preserving the history and memorabilia of Las Vegas. He later joined a local chapter of a national chip association. Carey was an active participant and was so invested that he was named the Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club Historian, a position that he held until his death. In 1981, he gave an oral history of his life to Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas; his account is still available through the UNLV Special Collections and Archives Department. He served on the Committee for the Museum of Gaming History and was an officer of the Silver State Coin Club, the Las Vegas Antique Bottles & Collectibles Club, and the Southern Nevada Chip Collectors Club. Carey was also a member of the Token and Medal Society, the Las Vegas Historical Society, and the California Exonumist Society. He volunteered for nearly every chip club convention to help set up, take down, lecture, and host information tables to help further the education about Las Vegas and chip collecting, many of them with his wife Pat by his side. In 2009, Carey and two other locals co-authored the book “Las Vegas 1905-1965,” that detailed the changing city landscape and history through postcards. Carey was so dedicated to preserving Las Vegas history that he was awarded the CC>CC President’s Award and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2011. Although Carey has been recognized numerous times for his vast contribution to the city of Las Vegas, nothing was more important to him than his family. He took great pride in his wife Pat, his son Carey, his daughter Tish, his daughter-in-law Catt, and his three beloved granddaughters Lorelai, Aurora, and Scarlett. Carey went above and beyond for his sisters and his nieces and nephews, attending parties and events to celebrate them well into his 80’s. Carey was a kind and helpful soul, always the first to offer a smile, a story, a compliment, and a helping hand. He remembered every birthday and delighted in his roles as husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and brother. Carey was funny, gregarious, and loving and was surrounded by good friends, great family, and a loving wife. He will be missed forever more by the people who were lucky enough to know him and love him. As Carey would say, he was a real gem.

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