August 17, 2025
Dear Friends,
We will be hosting our annual hike and gathering to remember Anna on Saturday September 13, 2025 at our home. The hike will start at 1:00, leaving from our back yard and we will return to the backyard for snacks, drinks, and memories by 3:00. Feel free to join for the hike or the gathering or both. Bring a snack or drink to share (spicy, salty, sweet or other) if you like but it is more than fine to just bring yourself. I will post a flyer on the memories page soon. If the weather is really awful we will hike/gather on Sunday 9/14 instead and I will post here if we do postpone.
With love,
Sarah

September 15, 2024
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for making this weekend a very special way to remember Anna. It meant an awful lot to have you all with us and to remember Anna together and be there for each other.

With love,

Sarah

August 21, 2024
Dear Friends,
We will be hosting an afternoon to remember Anna together on Saturday September 14th. We will hike to Rattlesnake Knob again (next peak over from Norwottuck) starting at our house at 1:00, then will gather in our back yard (or inside if raining) at 3:00 for memory sharing and salty, sweet, and spicy snacks. An Invitation flyer is on the photos page.
With love,
Sarah

October 6, 2023

Just a quick note that we have removed the need for a password to access the site - hopefully the reason for needing to use one has passed. We apologize for any inconvenience not being able to access it. Please let us know if you still have any trouble.

September 22, 2023
Dear Friends,
We want to thank family and friends who helped us remember Anna last week - running the Ludlow course on Wednesday morning in the pouring rain complete with thunder and lightning, working on the 'Anna's Alphabet' scrap book, so many pictures sent of the double rainbow that appeared over the high school near the end of x-country practice (Hi Anna) on Wednesday, sharing food, drink and tears, writing notes to Anna on dissolvable paper brought by a dear friend and watering the tree we planted on Anna's birthday with the notes dissolved in a pitcher of love, walking in the woods where we felt Anna right there with us, eating donuts and drinking cider, many hugs. You continue to help us figure out how to be in this world.
With love,
Sarah

September 6, 2023

Dear Friends,

As the anniversary of Anna's death approaches, we have been thinking about the best way to be together and remember Anna B. Since they love outdoors so much, we decided to invite anyone who would like to remember Anna with us to join us for a walk in the woods on September 16th at 1:30 PM. We will go from our house up to Rattlesnake Knob and back and have Cider and Donuts at 3:30 at our house. Feel free to walk less or just come to visit afterwards and have some cider.

With Love,

Sarah

July 15, 2023

Dear Friends,

We are wrapping up a week in Estes Park, Colorado, where we come every year to visit Stephen's family and hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. Ian, Stephen, and I did a two night backpacking trip in the park this year, something the four of us had planned on when we finished up last summer's trip. This is a quintessential Anna place for us, so it was both very, very hard to be here without them and also good to feel so close to them. There will be pictures posted in the photo section that Anna took on last year's trip and some I took this year that seemed like subjects Anna would appreciate.

I also wanted to again thank people for the incredible generosity in supporting the construction of a new high ropes element and a space for non-binary campers on overnights at Morse Hill, an ideal place for us to have a permanent structural tribute to Anna. Updates on construction will be in the photo pages too.

With Love,

Sarah

February 13, 2023

Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for the ongoing support you have given our family - it has meant so much to us. The kind texts - 'I was thinking about Anna today', 'Thinking about you'; the many willing walkers; dinner together; the hugs - they are all lifelines, and they help so much.

We also just wanted to note that we are going to retire the online donation portal. Donations could still be sent to Morse Hill via mail/check that has 'Anna Burns Memorial' on it, if desired. There will be other opportunities to support and other causes Anna cares about.

Morse Hill
65 Wentworth Manor Dr
Amherst, MA 01002

With Love,
Sarah, Stephen, and Ian

November 7, 2022

Dearest Friends,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. The memorial service celebrating Anna's life yesterday brought us such deep feelings of hope and healing, and it was all because of you - our family, our friends, our community - you are all part of our Big Family. You traveled from near and far so we could hold each other in that beautiful space. You shared so much of yourselves and your love of Anna through stories, songs, hugs, tears, laughter, being present and bearing witness. We are especially grateful to 'The Crew' of dear friends who organized the service - it was amazing. Grief is a long, bumpy, and unpredictable road and we hope we can all continue to lean on each other whenever someone in our Big Family needs it. There is so much strength in our numbers and love.
Love,
Sarah, Stephen, and Ian

Nov 5, 2022 Updates:
**If possible, please try to carpool on Sunday to the Retreat Center. A reminder that the clocks go back Saturday night for Daylight Savings Time.**

Notes from the Montague Retreat Center's Website re: getting there:
IMPORTANT TRAVEL NOTE: Ripley Road is closed at the back entrance to our facility. Your GPS may try to direct you to that entrance. Please follow these directions to arrive to the front entrance, and look for our signs along North Leverett Road!:

1) From the NORTH: Don't turn left onto Ripley Road off Route 63. Instead, continue southbound on Route 63 for 0.8 miles and turn left onto North Leverett Road. Proceed for approximately 1.5 miles and turn left on West Chestnut Hill Road. Bear left onto Ripley Road and follow for 0.4 miles to arrive at the Barn at the Montague Retreat Center!

2) From the SOUTH and WEST: Ignore any direction advising you to turn left onto Spaulding Brook Road off North Leverett Road. Instead, continue eastbound on North Leverett Road for 0.1 miles, turn left onto West Chestnut Hill Road and left again onto Ripley Road.

Please visit the Events page to learn more about the Memorial Service planned for November 6th. There are now full event logistics added (last update10/24). Please review those logistics and download the pdf announcement for all updated information about the service and ways to participate. The service will be held at the Montague Retreat Center, which has some fiddly GPS instructions. Please review their driving directions on their website: http://www.montagueretreatcen…

Please find in the pdf announcement:
- A Google Form you may use to indicate ways you may want to participate in the service
-A QR code which will connect you to a Google Folder to add photos to
- contact information if you're interested in participating via livestream

We are currently working on several donation pathways that will be updated here in the coming weeks.

Some of the donation ideas we are exploring are:
-A scholarship fund and other program development at Morse Hill
-A scholarship for ARHS

Also, the MealTrain site has been updated; Sarah, Stephen, and Ian continue to appreciate meals. Please consider signing up for time in November: https://mealtrain.com/r404m2

The Goff-Burns family continues to be grateful for the outpouring of support from family, friends, and community. Thank you for adding kind words, memories, and pictures to the site. We appreciate you sharing some of your love for Anna with us.
At this time, this page is maintained by Jules and Leslie (two of Anna's aunts), taking info/updates from Sarah and Stephen and posting here. You can reach Jules directly at <goff.julie@gmail.com> with any questions or concerns about the site.