ROBERT A. BURTON JR.

CORNWALL — Robert A. Burton Jr., passed away quietly at his Cornwall home late on Friday, Dec. 6, just shy of his 89th birthday.

Bob is survived by his loving wife of 17 years, Marian; his sister Holly, of Auburn, Maine; his three children and their families, John Burton and Thierry Richard of New York, Jennifer and Brian Hunter of Hinesburg and their children, Emaleigh (22) and Sam (17), and Jolynda (Jodi) Burton and Dan Arber of Montpelier and their children, Hendrix (11) and Margareta (8); as well as nieces, nephews, cousins, and former stepfamily across the country and the Atlantic. He is predeceased by his parents, his brother Peter, and sister Jolly, and his first wife (John, Jen, and Jodi’s mother), Elsie Ruth Abbott Burton.

Bob was born Dec. 22, 1935, to Helen deSanno and Robert A. Burton Sr. He grew up in Pennsylvania and Vermont, where he attended school in Townshend, then Vermont Academy and Dartmouth College. He was a pilot in the Navy from 1957 until 1965, when he went to UVM Medical School for emergency medicine. Beyond his educational and professional pursuits, Bob loved farming and raised his family on working farms from the early ’70s until the late ’80s.

He was naturally athletic and an accomplished skier and coach (he went to the ski jump Olympic trials in 1956). He loved Vermont, winter and small-town living; he loved sailing, music, old Westerns, and L.L. Bean chamois shirts. He was funny, smart, stubborn and one-of-a-kind. If you knew him, you know that there is zero chance he will be forgotten.

His immediate family will have a private remembrance on his birthday, and then look to the spring for a broader, community-wide event to celebrate his life. ◊