Home from deployment, father surprises his girls
A gasp.
A tug at the heart.
Then a dash up the shadowed aisle at Old Chicago and Erin was in her father’s arms.
Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Burke came home early from his deployment to Bahrain a day before Father’s Day.
His five daughters, ranging in age from 18 to 9, didn’t know about it until the last moment. Said Erin Murphy, 18: “I miss him so much.”
“I know they’re supposed to celebrate dad on Father’s Day weekend,” Jeff Burke said. “I feel like I am celebrating them because I get to come home early as a gift to the kids.”
Burke originally was slated to stay in Bahrain from January through September. The mission ended sooner, though, and he and his wife, Shannon, decided to surprise their daughters.
About two months before he came home, “my wife and I started to cook this up,” Jeff Burke said.
This wasn’t the first time he’s cooked up something upon returning from deployment.
Six years ago, Jeff returned home on Christmas day as a surprise to his wife.
“She wasn’t expecting me for a couple of weeks,” Jeff Burke said.
This time, they decided, the daughters would be the ones surprised by an early homecoming.
They pulled it off without a hitch, although in the last moments before Jeff Burke walked down the aisle in uniform, there was some suspicion among his daughters that something was up.
They didn’t know what.
And they didn’t know when, Shannon Burke said.
Shannon Burke said she was fighting tears as she drove them to the restaurant on Powers Boulevard a little after noon.
Two months in the making and the subterfuge could fall apart at any moment.
“It was a work in motion, based on when he would get here and where we were going to be when he got here,” Shannon Burke said. “There were a lot of factors to consider.”
All five daughters were in the car with her en route: Erin; Hannah Murphy, 15; Marlayna Burke, 13; Mercedes Burke, 12 and Miranda Burke, 9.
Keeping secrets from three teens and a pair of pre-teens is no easy feat.
It wasn’t until Shannon Burke stood on a chair in the restaurant, announcing that their father was, indeed, home, that the secret was out.
Erin’s dash was followed by the remainder of the brood and a group hug while others in the restaurant clapped, whistled and cheered.
For a guy who says he is not particularly emotional, there was enough emotion to fill the restaurant.
Afterward, Shannon Burke deemed it a success.
“I did pretty good if they weren’t suspicious until the last few seconds,” she said.
Daughters Erin Murphy, 18, left to right, Hannah Murphy, 15, Miranda Burke, 9, front center, Marlayna Burke, 13, and Mercedes Burke, 12, visit with their father Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Burke after he surprised them Saturday, June 14, 2014, at the Old Chicago on Powers Blvd. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Burke surprises his five daughters Saturday, June 14, 2014, at the Old Chicago on Powers Blvd. after coming home three month early from his deployment in Bahrain with the U.S. Army Reserves. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)