Priscilla S. Burniston

February 3, 1931 to December 21, 2016

Priscilla (Cannamela) Burniston, 85, of Annandale, VA, passed away on Wednesday, December 21, 2016. She was the widow of Richard Burniston. Priscilla was born in New Britain, CT, to Nicolino and Maria Cannamela. She was the youngest of 7 children and was predeceased by her dear sisters and brother, Mary Morales, Anne Larosa, Teresa Sbona, Dolly McCall, Freda LaRosa, Sebastian Cannamela, their spouses, and her nephew Nicholas Cannamela.

Priscilla graduated from New Britain High School in 1948, where she was actively involved in musical activities. She was an accomplished pianist. Following graduation, she had originally considered a career in nursing, but ultimately decided to pursue her passion for music and music education at Boston University. It was there that she met the love of her life, Richard Burniston of Jersey City, NJ, when the two of them were working in their dormitory dining hall to help pay for their education. Upon her graduation in 1953 with a Bachelor of Music degree, the two married and moved to Jersey City, NJ, where they lived in an apartment on the second floor of his parents’ home. Priscilla was hired as the choral director at Dickinson High School in Jersey City and taught there until the birth of her first child, Timothy, in 1955.

In 1959, while Priscilla was pregnant with her second child, Michael, the young couple moved to a new home in Washington Township, NJ, where she raised her two sons, returned to the workforce as a substitute teacher, and taught private piano lessons, something she continued to do until the early 1990’s. In 1966, the family moved to River Edge, NJ, where she became very active at the First Congregational Church as the director of the children’s choir, and the director of the church’s annual Christmas Pageant. In 1979, Richard’s employer relocated from New York City to Washington, DC and the family took up roots in Annandale, VA, where Priscilla lived until her death. In her retirement, Priscilla served as a volunteer at Inova Fairfax Hospital for many years.

Priscilla is remembered for her deep love of family, her ability to cook like no other, and her love of music. Nothing made her happier than to have all her family members at the dining room table, enjoying a meal that she prepared for them. No one could bake an apple pie like Priscilla, and never will. She continued to play the piano up until a few days before her death.

Surviving are her two sons, Timothy and Michael and their spouses Patricia and Sharon, her beloved granddaughters, Erin, Emily, Haley, and Jenna, and several nieces and nephews including Jacqueline, Christopher, and Ronald Morales, Lawrence and Theodore LaRosa, Ann Pierson, Deborah Margiotta, and Thomas and William Burniston, as well as several grandnieces and grandnephews.

A memorial service will be held for Priscilla at the Messiah United Methodist Church in West Springfield, VA at 11:00am on December 28. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org), or the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org).

Arrangements under the direction of Demaine Funeral Home, Springfield, VA.