Dave, who died January 16, 2014, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 15, 1918, to Florence D. Bigler and R. Spencer Burton. He grew up on Capitol Hill, attended West High School, and lived most of his life in the Avenues Area of Salt Lake. The past two years he has lived at Emeritus, an excellent assisted-living facility in Salt Lake. (Many thanks to them.)
He was a self-taught polymath and excelled in everything he did: commercial art, painting with acrylics, skiing, fishing, snooker, geology, table tennis, paleontology, golf (he once won the Salt Lake City Parks Open), contract bridge and much more. He was a walking encyclopedia and was always anxious to share his vast knowledge with others.
Dave's philosophy of life tended towards humanism. He was a member of the LDS Church and greatly respected the Mormon people. He was known to remark that it would be great if Mormonism turned out to be true. Dave believed in an afterlife where he could be reunited to his family and friends. He supported four sons on LDS missions and painted a portrait of every bishop of the Salt Lake Ensign Ward.
His artwork won many prizes, e.g., several times at the Utah State Fair, and has hung in several galleries around Utah. His numerous works can be seen at this URL: https://daveburtonart.wordpress.com/
Drafted into the US Navy in 1945, Dave served at the end of World War II in Washington D.C. working as a cartoonist for the Navy periodical All Hands. He created and wrote the comic strip, "Stalemate."
He leaves behind his beloved wife of almost 75 years, Ora Daybell Burton, five sons, Jeff (Marlene), Jon (Mickie), Tim (Suzanne), Andrew (Cheryl) and Paul (Janene), plus twenty-five grand children and too-numerous-to-count great-grandchildren.
He was an outstanding representative of the Greatest Generation. He will be missed by all.
Funeral services will be held at Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. So Temple, in Salt Lake City, on Thursday, January 22, 2015, at noon. Visitation for extended family and friends at 11 a.m.
Donations to the House of Hope.
