Lowell A. Burkett, 99, of Frederick County, Virginia, died Friday, May 27, 2011, at a local nursing facility.

Mr. Burkett was born in 1912 in Palestine, IL, the son of the late Fred H. and Alta M. Burkett. He retired from the position of Executive Director of the American Vocational Association. He earned a Bachelor of Education degree and Master of Education degree from the University of Illinois. His teaching career began in a one room school house in rural Crawford County, Illinois and proceeded through the elementary and high school system where he coached track, football and basketball, and on into the university level.

Leaving the classroom environment, he worked for the Illinois State Department of Education as Supervisor of Trade and Industrial Education for five years before moving to the Washington, D.C. area, where he joined the American Vocational Association as Assistant Executive Secretary for eleven years and then as Executive Director for twelve years. In this capacity, he was Editor of the American Vocational Journal and a member of the National Press Club, having been appointed to the National Manpower Advisory Committee and to the National Advisory Committee for two terms each by Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Other committees on which he served were the Institutional Eligibility and Accreditation for the U.S. Office of Education Committee, the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commissioner of Education where he served as Chairman, the World Confederation of Teaching Profession Committee, the Center for Occupational Education Committee, and the Vocational Education Committee for the NC State University and University of Tennessee Departments of Vocational Education.

International travel included inspecting vocational schools in West Germany, serving as a member of a twelve-person team of educators visiting the Soviet Union to study their educational system, supervising the teacher training program in Turkey, and serving as Consultant to the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr Burkett accompanied the Bob Hope 1969 final Christmas Tour to Vietnam as a member of a group of educators with a mission to motivate military personnel to utilize the G.I. Benefits to continue their education when discharged. He was a life-long member of the Christian Church, serving as a Sunday School Teacher for 42 years and as an Elder Emeritus.

He married Mary Elizabeth Cawood on April 16, 1938 in Robinson, Illinois.

In 1976, he and his wife retired to “High Banks,” the Burkett-Stillwell farm in Stephenson, VA.

Surviving with his wife are two children, Rebecca Stillwell and her husband, James D. of Stephenson, VA and Andrew Cawood Burkett of Manassas, VA; seven grandchildren; thirteen great grandchildren, and a sister, Elizabeth Burkett Tudor of Palestine, IL. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Cynthia Burkett Bowlin, a sister, Dorothy Burkett Richey, and a brother, Kent Richards Burkett.

A funeral service will be conducted on Thursday at 11:00 AM at Omps Funeral Home, Amherst Chapel. Private interment will be in Mount Hebron Cemetery.

A reception will be held for family and friends immediately following the service at Omps Funeral Home.

The family will receive friends on Thursday from 10:00 – 11:00 AM at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church, 75 Merrimans Lane, Winchester, VA 22601-6203, or the Palestine Preservation Project Society, 123 S. Main St., Palestine, IL 62451-1265.

Please view obituaries and tribute wall at www.ompsfuneralhome.com.