Raymond H. Burke

Who was Raymond H. Burke?

Raymond Hugh Burke was a teacher, businessman and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio’s third district.

Raymond H. Burke was born in Nicholsville, Ohio, the son of Daniel Fletcher Burke and Mary Jane McNair. Fletcher Burke was born in Iowa and was a farmer, mechanic, and machinist who died in the Cincinnati flood of 1884; Mary McNair Burke died when Raymond was six. Raymond went to Clermont County, Ohio to live with his maternal grandparents. Hugh McNair was born in Scotland worked as a blacksmith and was later a postmaster in Clermont County. There Raymond Burke attended Jackson School and then worked on a farm and in the village while studying to teach in rural schools. He taught at Pendleton School near Point Pleasant, Ohio in 1899 and 1900. He was a student at Oberlin Academy and Oberlin College to get a teaching certificate and was graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Chicago in 1906.

Raymond Burke was an instructor in geography, assistant professor of geology and director of music at Miami University from 1906 until 1915 and continuing some post-graduate work at the University of Chicago in the summer sessions. He wrote both the lyrics and music for Miami's fight song, the "Miami University Marching Song." The tune was adapted in 1919 for Wave the Flag, the University of Chicago's fight song. He also composed the music for "Old Miami, Alma Mater Song" and "Miami Scalp Song," which was the background music for the Miami Indian dance at athletic contests until the mascot was changed to the Redhawks. Burke organized the Miami University Men's Glee Club in 1907. It held its first performance in February 1908, ending the concert with the premiere of Burke's songs that are now known as the university's fight song and alma mater. The Miami Men's Glee Club continues this tradition today, ending its annual fall and spring concerts with the fight song and alma mater. After the great success of the Glee Club, he organized other singing groups for women and for men and women singing together that still survive at Miami University.