Our Mom, Myrtle Janet Warnke passed away
peacefully of natural causes on February 25, 2015 at
her home in Stuart. "Murrie" was born on November
9, 1925 in Toronto Canada to Frederick M. Wakefield
and Christina Robertson. After high school Mom
graduated from the St. Joseph's Hospital School of
Nursing in Toronto as a registered nurse. Mom
married our Dad James Warnke in 1952. In the late
1950's the young couple boarded their 46' Hacker
motorboat and set off for a new life in the Florida
Keys. Their three-week journey took them across the
two of the Great Lakes, the Erie Barge Canal, the
Hudson River, the Dismal Swamp, and down the
Intracoastal Waterway to Marathon Florida. Mom and
Dad were one of the founding families of San Pablo
Catholic Church in Marathon. They both drove busses
over those old narrow Keys bridges transporting the
parish children to and from C.C.D. classes. The year
1959 brought the adoption of son Jim and daughter
Susan. In 1960 Mom and Dad fled hurricane Donna
and eventually settled in Boca Raton where the family
became complete with the adoption of our brother
Patrick. About 1964 Mom and the family moved up to
Lake Worth. The Kennedy's had their "compound" at
Hyannis Port. The Bush family has their big place in
Kennebunkport. The Warnke compound was the
house and property on Military Trail where the family
business was also located. There are so many fond
memories of all the family adventures that occurred
there at the "farm" as Mom called it. This is where
Mom raised her family and busted her butt helping
work Dad's nursery business called University Farms
while Dad was out installing landscape jobs. During
that time Dad hired the local cheap labor from the
seminary up the street. Mom "adopted" these young
seminarians, often having up to six or eight of them
over for dinner several times a week. Mom was very
active in Sacred Heart School while we kids attended
the school. After we had grown and left home Mom
began volunteering at the Newman Center in Lake
Worth with her good friend Father Cann. Later Mom
moved to "S.O.B" Street in Lake Worth. Mom's
backyard became the playground for her
grandchildren. About this time Mom began to split her
time between Lake Worth and Highlands North
Carolina. She started a gift shop in Highlands with her
old friend Pat Schmidt from the Keys. The business
prospered but the relationship between Pat and Mom
did not and within three or four years they parted
ways and Mom returned to Lake Worth. Frequent trips
to Toronto to visit her brother Bill and care for her
mother filled the next few years. Mom also spent
countless hours actively involved in the day-to-day
lives of her grandkids whom she adored. The loving
relationship she shared with them is a legacy family
members will cherish forever. With both the
neighborhood and her health deteriorating Mom
moved up to Stuart to live in a beautiful cottage that
her son-in-law Brent so generously built for her. Mom
was very happy there. She was able to maintain a
degree of independence all the way up to the end.
Mom is survived by her son James Warnke
(Happy) of West Palm Beach, daughter Susan Perry
(Brent) of Stuart, and son Patrick Warnke (Angela), of
West Palm Beach, six grandsons, and nine great
grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers please send contributions to
Treasure Coast Hospice.