DUNCAN – Martha Burger’s passion for photography, music and her longtime dedication to education earned her a lifetime achievement award from the Duncan Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.
“It was great,” said Burger, who moved to Duncan in 1970. “I had no thought I would get it. I have two good friends who were nominated and were deserving. It always feels good to be recognized but I don’t feel worthy.”
Her life resume tells another story.
After moving to Duncan, Burger taught elementary school and later became principal at Will Rogers and Plato schools. During that time, she was involved in a number of education organizations, including the Association of Duncan Educators, Stephens County Reading Council, Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals, and the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators.
“I really got involved with leadership roles during my teaching years,” she said. “I feel like that’s what you’re supposed to do. I had mentors who told me that, and that got me noticed outside the school system. I met people I wouldn’t have met outside the education circles.”
In addition, Burger took leadership roles in several of those organizations and served as state president of the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals and the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators.
Her involvement in community groups has been just as impressive. Burger has been part of the Duncan Chamber of Commerce, the American Association of University Women, Civic Capers, The Chisholm Trail Arts Council, Leadership Duncan, the Chisholm Trail Municipal Band, and the Duncan Community Choir. In each of these organizations she has served in officer positions, including her time as president of the Duncan Chamber of Commerce and of the American Association of University Women.
In addition to these organizations, she has been on the boards of directors of the Duncan Regional Hospital Foundation and of the Simmons Center Foundation. She was the creator and chair of the first annual Duncan Area Arts Hall of Fame. She served a term as Program Chair for Leadership Duncan Class 12 and remains involved in that organization, conducting a strategy exercise at each retreat.
“I live here and want this to be the best town possible,” Burger said.
After retiring from teaching in Duncan, Burger taught graduate students at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, for 12 years, but never moved from Duncan. Upon retirement from college teaching, she served as interim director of the Simmons Center Foundation for six months until a new director could be found. She continues to be active as a member of the Simmons Center and has now taken up pickleball. She has also turned her attention to the Stephens County Oklahoma Retired Educators Association, whose mission is to protect retirement funds for teachers in Oklahoma. She served three years as president of that organization.
Burger has a long history of volunteering in a variety of other organizations and of donating her artwork to be used in fundraising. Among the awards she has received for her efforts are Teacher of the Year, Woman of the Year, Outstanding Citizen, Administrator of the Year, Arts Hall of Fame inductee, and the Jack A. Maurer Distinguished Leadership Award. She continues to be active in the community that she loves. She serves on the gallery committee of the Chisholm Trail Arts Council and helps with art showings at the gallery.
She serves on the Duncan Area Arts Hall of Fame committee to raise funds for the Simmons Center Theater, she plays in the Chisholm Trail Community Band and the Cameron-Lawton Community Band, and finds time to take photos and show them in galleries in Duncan and around the state.
“Music and art are the two things driving me these days,” she said, a reference to her inclusion in the Paseo Arts Association in Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.
Burger also stays physically active by working out several days a week at the Simmons Center. She takes trips with friends to faraway destinations such as France and Germany. After her husband died in 2019, a group of retired women known as the Rowdy Friends began meeting at a local coffee shop to talk about their lives and potential plans. Meanwhile, a group of widows meet during the summer months at a friend’s backyard pool and “just talk and have fun,” Burger said.