Catalog Number
2019.35.1Description
Print, showing the water tower and facilities of Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert/Pfizer. The artist's last name (Burns) appears near the bottom.History
Elinor Burns was a local artist. She died in 2012 at the age of 92.Here is her obituary from the 6-29-2012 Holland Sentinel.
"She was preceded in death by her husbands, William (Ed) Burns and Donald Webber; son-in-law, Donald Craycraft; great-granddaughter, Tonya Rose Dams; great-great-grandson, Tristan Ross; and three brothers.
She is survived by her children, Rena and Robert Westerhof of Holland, Rose (Zelly) Craycraft Holland, Robert and Bonnie Burns of Ramayor, TX, Rebecca and David Curtis of Hamilton; 16 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; three great- great-grandchildren; sister, Mrs. C.W. (Shirley) Daniels of Virginia; two stepsons and families; several nephews and nieces.
Elinor and her husband Ed impacted so many, many people with the love of Christ in practical living with everyone they met, taking in strangers and making friends for life everywhere. Her daily mail reflected the countless contacts. As an active member of Immanuel Church, the “Lord’s work” was always volunteered and welcomed whether it was Vacation Bible School, prayer meetings, Sunday school, Pioneer Girls, Ladies Bible Study, Migrant Ministry, City Mission, Salvation Army, or doing any artwork that needed her touch.
Missionaries were hallowed friends and she and Ed supported them in many personal ways and loved to visit and receive mail from them. Children were very special to them and they provided art supplies and musical instruments to those with promise.
Prayer was an integral part of every aspect of her daily doings and her prayer list was long and specific for her family, friends, herself and her daily decisions.
A gifted and humble artist, Elinor in recent years was most noted for her “Memories of Holland” series with “Nies Hill” being her signature print. She was a charter member of the Holland Friends of Art, Holland Arts Council, Saugatuck Art Group, and the Professional Photographers of America winning many awards and acknowledgments. Her booth at Art in the Park art show was a familiar and popular spot. Local galleries and art shows displayed her work."
Parke-Davis started out in Detroit, MI ca. 1860. Early in 1952 they opened a plant in Holland Charter Township at 182 Howard Avenue, in the former Armour Leather Company building. They began manufacturing antibiotics in Holland, with the drug chloromycetin being the most popular at the time.
In 1975 the Holland facility was expanded to include chemical manufacturing and research buildings. “The entire complex in 1977 became part of Warner-Lambert…. The 350 employees, of which one-third were chemists, discovered and produced many leading products, including the anticonvulsant drugs Dilantin and Neurontin, the cholesterol-lowering Lopid, the anti-histamine Benadryl, and the Alzheimer drug Cognex.
In 2000 the facility changed hands again when Pfizer…bought Warner-Lambert and committed $250 million for a research laboratory in Holland, which opened in 2002. The next year Pfizer began downsizing, first closing the laboratory in 2004 and laying off nearly one hundred chemists, and then in 2007 ending production in the adjacent manufacturing plant. Pfizer generously donated the $50 million laboratory to Michigan State University for biotechnology research, but razed the manufacturing plant after failing to find a buyer.”
- Robert Swierenga, "Holland, MI: From Dutch Colony To Dynamic City" pages 1015-1016.