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Alumni Feature: John Burns
John Burns first saw the shores of Lake Waccamaw at age 13 when he came to Boys Home in 1987. Today, he is 51 and lives in Wilmington, running his 22-year-old kitchen and bathroom tile business, Burns Tile. Before BGHNC, John bounced to many different placements. But when he came to stay in the Jaycee Cottage at BGHNC, “I had just come from a foster home that was horrible so to come here was 10 times better,” he said while visiting BGHNC this spring for the first time in 30 years. “I remember having nice clothes here. We would shop at a place in Whiteville called Mann’s. An older guy there would always help us with our clothes,” John said. “I remember the auto shop and taking care of the horses on the Farm.” John’s favorite was Apache, a large horse with tan and white spots.
John observed everything in the cottages, including where the keys to the vans were kept. One night the temptation to run overtook him, and John drove a campus van into downtown Whiteville. “I had the windows down and the Commodores on the radio,” and that’s when John saw the sheriff’s car, which pulled him over. After talking with him, the sheriff knew he was a boy from Boy’s Home and took him to the station, fed him snacks and waited for the president to arrive. After that, John left BGHNC for a Training School. He got into more trouble after high school and ended up in prison for 15 months. “It was long enough for me to realize I’m never coming back there,” John said. “When I got out, I met my wife. I was getting up early, and I was motivated to find work.” His wife’s cousin found him a job working for a landscaper.
“He was one of the first men -- black or white -- that I saw be a father to his two boys. He called his wife Mama. Now, I call my wife Mama,” John said. “I carry myself just like he did-- keep my shirt tucked in, pants pulled up, always a belt on. I learned so much from him.”Through his work with the landscaping business, John started learning tile work and built a business that lasted more than two decades. Though his time was short at BGHNC, John took away a big lesson – charity. “I was aware that all of the cottages were supplied and donated to by these different civic organizations like the Lions Club and Kiwanis Club, and I realized they would take care of a whole cottage of boys, and they would always show up” he added. “I try to be very charitable now because of what I learned back when I was at Boys Home.”
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