M. Elaine Burnham of Concord, formerly of Lincoln died Monday, March 30, 2015 at her Concord home. She was born August 19, 1919, in Brookline, MA, the daughter of Emily Wearin Maxon and Matthew Maxon. She graduated from Brookline High School and the Mount Auburn School of Nursing. She was proud of her WWII service with the Army Nurse Corps in the South Pacific, where she traveled in the first convoy of American troops and achieved the rank of Second Lieutenant. After the war, she attended Boston College and graduated with a B.S. (1959), and an M.S. in Psychology and Sociology (1969). She lived in Lincoln, MA for many years, and worked as a member and then Executive Director of the advocacy group Human Rights for the Mentally Retarded. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Robert Boit Burnham and by nine brothers and sisters. She is survived by her children, Louisa A. Burnham and Perry Lessing of Weybridge, VT, William E. Leber and Sally Speer Leber of Powell, OH, Robert B. Burnham and Patricia Laughlin of Hales Corners, WI, Ellin B. Burnham and Matthias Heinzel of Göttingen, Germany, granddaughter Alice P. Leber-Cook and Roy Cook of Minneapolis, MN, as well as by former students from her time as a guidance counselor at the Mount Auburn School of Nursing, and many friends. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 4th at 2 pm in the Duvall Chapel of the New England Deaconess Association, 80 Deaconess Road, Concord. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main Street, Concord, MA 01742.