The Look-Alikes : 2 Sets of Triplets Graduating From Fullerton District Schools

For teachers and administrators in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, years of triple takes come to an end today when two sets of triplets graduate.

Shawn and Marshall Burke, who are identical twins, and their brother Eric, all 17 years old, of La Palma, will receive their diplomas from Buena Park High School at about the same time that identical triplets Monica, Joy and Leanna Creel, also 17, of Fullerton, are relishing life as new graduates of Sunny Hills High School.

And, while the Burke brothers will be going to different colleges and pursuing distinct majors, the Creel sisters are all planning to attend Cal State Fullerton and have already signed an acting contract with Walt Disney Productions.

They want “to take advantage of the novelty of triplets in Hollywood,” as Leanna put it, until they can establish themselves as individuals in the acting industry.

As for the boys, Eric Burke will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Shawn will enroll at Cal Poly Pomona and Marshall will begin at Cypress College.

Despite the differences, both sets of triplets agree that they dislike being called “that name”--triplets--because it makes them feel like somebody’s brother or sister instead of their own person.

However, the Burkes say that people do not often confuse them because their personalities, as shaped by their pursuit of goals, are very different.

“We grew up with the same basic ideas, but we each are pursuing different goals,” Eric said. “That makes us very different people.”

Even their mother, Anne Burke, was quick to point out the differences between her sons. “Eric is the most vocal, the most outgoing. He puts good times before studying,” she said. “Shawn is the most serious, and Marshall . . . is my late bloomer.”

The differences in mannerisms were apparent when the brothers were asked the role of young women in their lives.

“Yeah, well, there’s been some girls. . . ,” Shawn began diffidently before he was cut off by Eric, who interjected, “He gets my seconds,” and laughed.

It was an obvious case of sibling chiding, which can be the harshest type of kidding because brothers and sisters often know how to hit the soft spots in each others’ egos, as the Creel sisters noted.

“Sometimes we can really get sick of being around each other,” Joy said during an interview that, at times, turned into a shouting match. “We need breaks from each other.”

For a break from family companionship, Marshall--like Monica with her fellow cheerleaders--has cultivated a different group of friends from those of his siblings.

Eric and Leanna, being the most athletic of each group, seemed to find that occasional haven with fellow athletes. Marshall is fascinated with foreign cultures; both he and Joy have been exchange students in Denmark. Shawn sees himself as a future politician or a scientist.

In fact, the only subject that all six of the triplets agreed on was the same one that fuels most inter-sibling squabbles.

It was not the Contras, the Kremlin or even the Khmer Rouge. It was clothes.