Keith J. Burns: Practical Joker
With Heart
Keith
J. Burns bought his future wife, Jennifer, an engagement
ring with a diamond the size of a baseball. And it was
worth about as much: the ring was plastic.
"Before he proposed to me, we would always joke around
about the ring," Mrs. Burns recalled. "So he bought this
huge plastic diamond ring. It was bigger than my whole
wrist." She didn't mind -- he had introduced her to his
big thinking on their first date, which included two
Broadway shows and a Rangers game on her first weekend in
the city. For Mr. Burns, who worked in ticketing for
Cantor Fitzgerald, there was no such thing as a small
occasion.
Though he had recently made the switch from ticketing
to equities, Mr. Burns, of East Rutherford, N.J., never
lost his zeal for gift giving or for surprises, said his
twin sister, Colleen Cooper. At 39, he was still a
prankster. His young nephew, expecting an extravagant
gift from his favorite uncle, instead received a bunch of
balloons -- in which Mr. Burns had painstakingly hidden
five $20 bills. Years ago, at a going-away party on the
eve of his move to Hawaii, Mr. Burns greeted his five
siblings with a bag full of freshly cut coconuts. "He
always thought big," said Ms. Cooper. "It was never just
ordinary."
Case in point: the Keith Burns upgrade. "He used to
bring extra tickets to the Rangers game, and he would
find a father and a son, or a father and a daughter
sitting in the 400 section, the nosebleed seats,"
recalled his brother, Michael. "And he'd say, 'Mike, I'll
be right back.'" With his tickets, Mr. Burns would bring
the lucky pair down to the 100 section, where there was
waiter service, the works. "It made him happy, to do
that," his brother said.
Oh, and of course Mrs. Burns eventually got a real
ring.
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