Burke Lindquist was in his father’s living room that night in October 2023 when the alert on his phone came through. A new round of test results from UPMC was available.
Just two weeks earlier, Lindquist was told he had diabetes, and his primary care doctor wanted another look at his pancreas.
The checks had become routine for the Kennedy native and Culinary Arts teacher at the Hewes Educational Center. In 2018, he was diagnosed with pancreatitis and learned that he had a cyst on the same large organ that’s located behind the stomach and which produces digestive enzymes and hormones.
So the latest test was especially important.
“It was a Saturday,” Lindquist recalled of getting the notification on his phone. “I read the test result, and it said ‘2-centimeter mass.’ I’m like, what does that mean? I told my dad, and he said it’s probably nothing.”
Lindquist reached out to a general surgeon friend and asked about the strange note in his test results.
“I asked, ‘What does this mean?’ and he responded, ‘It means you have a tumor.”
The pancreatic cancer diagnosis was both devastating and grounding. Just a year-and-a-half earlier, Lindquist lost his mom, Laurie, to the same rare disease.
Laurie Lindquist had been the longtime postmaster at Chautauqua Institution and was known as the “Mayor of Chautauqua.”
“She was the picture of health; she ran or walked 6 miles a day,” Lindquist said of his mom. “When she retired because of the cancer, there was a line to greet her. I was standing there with her the whole time. I was so proud of her.”
A PASSION IS BORN
Lindquist grew up on a dairy farm in Kennedy. He graduated from Randolph High School in 1996 and studied music at Robert Wesleyan College, where he also met his future wife, Alicia.
While a freshman in college, he got work as a cook at the campus diner. It was there, serving typical bar fare, that his passion for culinary arts first began simmering.
What would become his eventual career choice certainly surprised some in Lindquist’s life.
“My mom would have never guessed I was going to get into cooking,” he said. “When I was 13, I couldn’t cook macaroni and cheese out of a box.”
After graduating from Robert Wesleyan, Lindquist found work as a chef at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. There, he worked with two certified Master Chefs, learning to hone his skills from professionals at the top of their field.
He estimated he worked 80 to 90 hours a week in those early days.
The Lindquists, now with two young kids in tow, eventually moved back to Western New York. As an executive chef, he helped open the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino around 2006. He was also part of the opening team at Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino.
“I started to realize that this was an industry that still valued hard work,” Lindquist said of his culinary journey. “I grew up on a dairy farm, so I was pretty acquainted with hard work. I just moved my way up through restaurants just by sheer work ethic.”
He opened his first restaurant, La Familia, at Chautauqua Institution. His second venture, the Chop House on Main located in downtown Jamestown, opened in December 2019.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lindquist closed La Familia to focus his efforts on the upscale steakhouse.
KITCHEN TO CLASSROOM
In 2021, Lindquist learned Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES was in need of a Career & Technical Education instructor for its Culinary Arts program. He felt the time was right to make a significant career change, noting that his three children grew up with him spending most of his time inside a restaurant.
He had an idea of what being a teacher would entail; his wife has been a teacher for more than 20 years.
“In a way, I’ve been teaching my whole life being in culinary,” he said. “In restaurants, you don’t always get those with the most experience. I’ll take a dishwasher if they want to work hard and we can teach them to be a cook.”
Lindquist became an instructor in March 2022.
Students affectionately call him Chef Burke in the classroom, but he’s also known around the halls at Hewes as the singing chef — a nod to his degree in music.
Those enrolled in the CTE program learn essential food service and hospitality industry components. Incoming juniors start with the basics of safety and sanitation before getting into the kitchen. In their first year, students also learn to master simple cutting techniques and basic proteins.
“We get into the theory first,” Lindquist said. “We learn what’s in an egg. One of the first things we teach is the egg. Then we go into the kitchen.”
He preaches “respect and responsibility” and makes it a point to connect with each student.
“I tell my kids that 85% of jobs in this life are showing up, being on time or early, staying late when needed, and working hard,” he said.
AN ‘EMOTIONAL’ JOURNEY
Lindquist admits he struggled emotionally upon learning of his cancer diagnosis last fall. He started chemotherapy treatment the first week of November, and this winter, he underwent major surgery in which his pancreas, spleen, gall bladder, and duodenum were removed along with portions of his stomach and intestines.
Since the surgery, he’s gone through several additional rounds of chemotherapy.
“This has been one of the hardest years of my life, personally,” Lindquist said.
Forever pained by the loss of his mom, Lindquist acknowledged he got lucky. His cancer was found before it spread, rare for those inflicted with the disease.
“This year has been emotionally tough for me,” Lindquist said. “I’m struggling with all of this stuff. But, God willing, I’m cancer-free right now. I had my last chemo treatment two weeks ago, and the scans are completely clear.”
This past spring, a benefit brunch was held to help the family with medical bills. A handful of Lindquist’s students even helped cook food for the fundraiser.
Their support was especially touching.
“If it weren’t for my students, honestly, it wouldn’t have made me work as hard as I did,” he said.
He also acknowledged his fellow teachers and staff at Hewes. He said they often “stepped in and helped me” in moments when he felt exhausted and needed to take a break.
He praised the likes of Nicole Terry, Jordin Smith, Michelle Sterns, Frances Michalak, Matthew Bendig, Kerry Crist, Brenda Johnson, and Kara Rusco, among other instructors and support staff.
He also recognized Hewes Principal Paul Mihalko, who he said has been extremely supportive in his short teaching career.
Mihalko alluded to Lindquist’s uncanny ability to connect with students, an attribute evident by the number of participants enrolled in Culinary Arts at Hewes. He said Lindquist’s wealth of industry knowledge and down-to-earth personality have bolstered the popular program.
“He’s been an asset. He just brings this positivity to the center,” Mihalko said. “He has helped to really turn that program around.”
His ability to connect with students was abundantly clear during Hewes’ Senior Recognition Ceremony held in June at Chautauqua Institution. Many sought a hug before walking the stage.
Lindquist has been learning more about pancreatic cancer and how inherited gene changes may be passed from parent to child. He and his mom both underwent genetic testing when they received their diagnoses, but nonetheless, he believes pancreatic cancer in general is “woefully under-studied.”
To support others, Lindquist is in the process of starting a charity that will fund travels around the country to organize benefit meals for pancreatic cancer patients. He wants to name the charity “Tripple L” in memory of his mom.
“I want to use my talents to support people going through this,” he said.
Lindquist and his wife have three children, Megan, Ben, and Zach. He currently lives in Kennedy not far from where he grew up.
Career and Technical Education programming typically serves students in their junior and senior years of high school, with students selecting the option to attend an E2CCB CTE program in their sophomore year.
For more information, visit e2ccb.org.
