Vic is a native of St. Louis,
a graduate of St. Mary’s High
School who sang in an archdioc-
esan boys choir that performed
on a national radio program.
Pat was born in Davenport,
Iowa, the daughter of a grocery
store owner who helped shape
her own musical talents. When
they married Vic was in the Air
Force (their two oldest children
were born at Scott Air Force Base)
and he later went to Iowa State
University to get a degree in
radio and TV and in theatre art, a
double major. While there, near-
ing graduation, he first heard of
Peoria when a professor arranged
for him to get an interview as a
producer-director for WEEK. He
got the job; it was spring, 1959.
Said Pat, “Here we are, Vic is
getting ready to finally graduate
and I’m thinking we’d be going to
places like Savannah or Denver
or even Hawaii, places where we
knew there were jobs. When he
came home and said he got a job
in Peoria, I said, ‘where’s Peoria?’
But, we have come to love Peoria.
It’s our home.”
While at WEEK Vic produced
commercials, had a stint direct-
ing the Captain Jinks Show and
produced the news, weather and
sports. He became a local person-
ality himself when he became the
full-time weatherman when Bill
Houlihan left the business. It was
supposed to be an interim gig
until a permananet replacement
was found; it ended up being 14
years. “And not once did they tell
me ‘you got the job.’”
When Houlihan returned,
Vic was promoted into manage-
ment — and into a job he didn’t
like. He quit and spent some
time doing “a lot of things” to
earn a paycheck until he landed
a radio job in Springfield in 1986.
He stayed there 10 years before
returning to a job at WHOI-TV.
He and Pat returned to Peoria,
but they felt they never really left.
“
Peoria had become our home
by then. We were up here all
the time anyway and we always
knew we’d be coming back here.”
They now spend a lot of time
with their children and their
16
grandchildren. They impart
the importance of family to the
grandchildren in the same way
they did their children.
Pat told how she and Vic
once went to a communications
workshop in St. Louis and talked
about the fact the children were
getting older, that it wouldn’t be
long before the older ones would
be going away to college and to
live their own lives. “We decided
to take a family vacation. We got
a motor home and a couple of
tents and took off. That trip had
such a positive impact on our
lives. We learned how important
it was that we talk and communi-
cate with each other,” she said.
Vic agreed. “The best way to
communicate is to report your
feelings to the other. It’s a good
thing to do. So often we don’t do
that and we make judgements
that are hurtful. So communica-
tion, sharing feelings, is very
important for a long marriage,”
he said.
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Celebrating the
Past, Present and
Future of Peoria
This photo of Vic and Pat Burnett, with their wedding day photo on the
wall behind them, was taken during their 60th Anniversary party last April.
