UNION — Eva Dagmar Burns, 94, Mother, Aunt, Grammy, Great Grammy, and Great-Great Grammy, died at her Bump Hill Road home on Sunday, December 7, 2025 in Union, Maine.

She and her twin sister, Annie, were born on Finn Hill in North Warren to Finnish immigrants John and Ida Koskela Niemi on November 3, 1931. She began her education at Anderson School speaking only Finnish. She and her twin sister, Annie, quickly mastered English with the help of Arthur Jura and Norman Alholm who interpreted for them with the teacher. During her childhood, Eva and her sisters Miriam, Esther, and Annie worked hard on their parents’ poultry/blueberry farm. After the Anderson School closure, the twins attended Warren High School for two years. Then they completed their high school career at Union High School in the class of 1950. Soon after, Eva began to pay particular attention to her children, a family of nine. While raising her brood, she worked at various jobs. Finally, she began a long career at Augusta Mental Health Institute, earning her Associate’s Degree in Mental Health Technology on June 4, 1977 from UMA.

Eva was a founding member of the Union Historical Society, worked on the Union Road Naming Committee, and was one of the longest serving volunteers at the Thompson Community Center. She was a member of the Finnish-American Society of South Thomaston that was not only important to her, but to her search of Finnish family members in Upper Michigan and Finland.

Other than her parents, Eva was predeceased by three sisters, Miriam Korpinen, Esther Maklin, and Annie Fitzgerald and her family, and three beloved children Chester Burns, Jr, Timothy Burns, and Susan Talbott, as well as sons-in-law Billie Jo VanGaalen and Arthur Henry.

Eva leaves behind Irene and Ron Hawes, Cynthia VanGaalen, Jean Burns, Karen L. Burns, Lyn Athearn, Theresa Henry, Angela Burns and John Mac Donnell, Valerie Burns and Tom Belyea; twelve grandchildren, Jon, Matthias, Jana, Scott, Thomas, Bridgett, Alana, Jonathan, Andrew, Arnold, Amanda, and Katie; great-grandchildren, Eva, Thatcher, Emma, Gavin, Liam, Riley, Nathaniel, Marissa, Katelyn, Mikayla, Olivia, Jackson, Kolby, Hunter, Alexis, Damian, Carly, and Payton; as well as two great-great-grandchildren, Amelia and Christopher.

A graveside service will be held Friday, June 12, 2026, at 2 p.m., at Post/Sunny View Cemetery in North Warren. A Celebration of Life will follow, at 3:30 p.m., at the Union Masonic Hall.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Finnish Heritage House 172 St. George Road S. Thomaston, Maine 04858 or Pope Memorial Humane Society, P.O. Box 1294, Rockland, Maine 04841.

To share a memory or condolence with Eva’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com. Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, Rockland.