Janie Mae Millwood Burkhardt, 88

LEWES - Janie Mae Millwood Burkhardt of Lewes died Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007, in Beebe Medical Center, Lewes. She was 88.

A daughter of the deep South, Dr. Burkhardt graduated from Oglethorp University in Georgia, where she met and later married Robert Burkhardt.

In 1942, she and her small family moved to Washington, D.C.

She began her distinguished career on Capitol Hill and was present there when Harry S. Truman was inaugurated.

Dr. Burkhardt took a position at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda Md., and next at Chestnut Lodge, Rockville, Md., as a research assistant, which sparked Dr. Burkhardt's interest in mental health.

In the 1950s, she began to pursue a doctorate in educational psychology, first at American University and then at George Washington University, all the while devoting most of her time to raising her two daughters.

When her girls were nearly grown and the doctorate within reach, she began counseling students at the George Washington University Counseling Services, where she remained through the 1960s and early 1970s.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Burkhardt and her husband moved to West Virginia, where she accepted a position counseling veterans at the Veterans Administration in Martinsburg.

During that time period she founded the first chapter of NOW in the Eastern Panhandle and spent much time working for women's rights, serving on the Governor's Advisory Board for women's affairs.

In the early 1990s she and her husband retired to Lewes beach, where she began the Quakertown Counseling Center.

Throughout her life, Dr. Burkhardt remained devoted to women's issues, from rape counseling to battered women's shelters.

She is survived by two daughters, Beth Burkhardt and Evelyn Ogden; and a granddaughter, Leigh Anderson.

A memorial service will be held in Atlanta, Ga., at a later date.

Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Families in Transition, 112 Airport Road, Milford, DE 19963.

Arrangements by Parsell Funeral Homes, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, Lewes.