Obituary of Harold Burton

Harold Joseph Burton, loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather and husband for two long and faith-filled marriages, died peacefully in his sleep Friday (January 30, 2026) due to lingering complications of a stroke. He was 91. A resident of Colony Surf in Lilliwaup, Wash., he attended Newport Covenant Church in Bellevue for many years and then Faith Lutheran Church in Shelton where he found a congregation devoted to a wholly welcoming and grace-based theology. A man of zero cunning, he somehow was full of surprises. Hal was a storyteller and loved the stage. He sang in grade school chorus, barber shop quartets, musicals, ensembles and at worship services for Lutherans and Disciples of Christ. He religiously practiced lines and melodies at home or behind the wheel of a station wagon, always the ringleader in his family. On many nights before Christmas at First Christian Church in South Bend, Ind., he anchored the low registers of Handel’s Messiah, his voice booming the recitative bass line “Thus Saith the Lord.” At the apex of his vocal journeys, he sang in Gustav Mahler’s No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand.” He loved to act, producing “The Wizard of Oz” in Shelton for Faith Lutheran’s theatre ministry. He played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the ministry’s production of “Annie,” a role that showcased his optimism and moral strength. After retiring from a career in product management, he shocked everyone by self-publishing a novel, “Cave of Secrets.” The book’s plot is derivative of his own life; a business trip he took to Taiwan and a visit with his first wife, Marnell, to the Ozette Makah archeological site north of Seattle. He found the book’s primary setting, Olympic National Park and the Washington coast, profoundly inspiring. An Eagle in the Boy Scouts, he spent summers hiking and camping in the Olympics and along Hood Canal, where he moved to write books and live the second half of his life with Jeanette (Black), whom he married in September 1988, after Marnell’s untimely death. For his 70th birthday, he led three sons and a stepson on a 40-mile backpacking trip into the Dosewallips wilderness. Weeks before the hike, flooding ripped the trail apart. So, the group passed packs and gear to each other over fallen timber and across cracks in the earth. Through rainforest and past glaciers, Hal outpaced them all. After “Cave of Secrets,” he published nine novels in 20 years and contributed short stories to anthologies of Pacific Northwest writers. His books, based on historic events and rooted in places he loved, were sold in the small town shops that dot the Olympic Peninsula. Camping trips, rare stamps, a summer job in the forest, and trips to Japan, Taiwan, Germany, England and Scotland for business or with Marnell or Jeanette fueled some of his narratives. Jeanette designed book covers and produced flyers to promote readings and autographs. Profits, if there were any, were reinvested to print the next book. Born July 31, 1934, at Harborview in Seattle to Harold Jennings and Gertrude Almeda (Feek) Burton, Hal spent all his years before the Air Force on Queen Anne Hill. When he was 9, a doctor ordered him to bed with a misdiagnosis of rheumatic fever. To pass the time, he began collecting postage stamps, memorizing capitals and depictions of world events. For the next eight decades, he bought and sold rare and unique stamps, brokering deals for clients in the Americas and overseas. Before World War II, his family owned and operated a small restaurant on Boston Street. Rationing forced his parents to close. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hal played soldier on city blocks overlooking Seattle and the waterfront. At home, his mom planted victory gardens and collected vinyl records to send to the troops. His dad was an Army veteran of WWI who returned home to Iowa, fathering two of Hal’s half siblings, before joining the Marines for service in the Philippines. During WWII, Hal’s father worked in Seattle’s naval shipyards and served as an air raid warden. After graduating from Queen Anne High School, Hal enrolled in business school at the University of Washington, joined ROTC and pledged the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Tall and athletic, he tried out for the rowing team, a program with a pedigree going back to the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin when the “Boys in the Boat” took the gold medal. But his coursework suffered and bills mounted. Before the end of his freshman year, he traded his oar for a white uniform and a job at a Standard Oil full service station. Confounding to his competitive children, Hal was gifted at golf, tennis, ping pong, darts, croquet, bridge, cribbage and basketball. A talented shooter who hung around the top of the key, he regretted just one pickup game that pitted him against a young Elgin Baylor, who would go on to lead Seattle University to the 1958 NCAA Championship game. Hal graduated in 1956 and received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He and Marnell, who graduated from Washington State University, married that June at Magnolia Congregational Church. In September, he received orders to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. After basic training, the young couple moved to Houston where Hal trained to be a navigator at Ellington Air Force Base. From there, he transferred to the Electronic Counter Measures program at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. At Keesler, he trained officers headed to the Strategic Air Command. In 1959, given a choice of a career in the Air Force or on the homefront, he accepted a job with Reliance Electric in Ohio. He left the service as a first lieutenant. Over the next two decades, Hal rose through the ranks of industry, ascending to a vice president role while moving the family to Cleveland and Dayton and Columbus and South Bend and Renton and Bellevue. He thrived as a manager in an era of white shirts and ties, pressed suits, polished shoes and gin martinis. He lived the “Mad Men” style long before Hollywood’s sleeker version. Handling supply accounts for Cummins Engine Company, Reliance Electric (now ABB Motors) and The Boeing Company, he personified post-war America’s bedrock generation and a values-driven middle class. Never influenced by partisan politics, he voted his conscience. A young Republican in southern Indiana, he volunteered to be a poll watcher for the 1964 presidential showdown between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater. Assigned to East Chicago, a precinct dominated by working class families and Baltic immigrants, he stood by as poll workers called out each voter’s party before they entered the booth. Republican voters were led from the ballot box to the back door. Democrats, he discovered, were ushered downstairs to a buffet of brats and potatoes and beer. He laughed at the memory and gentler times but never dabbled again in politics. If he missed a day of work from 1960 to 1990, nobody can remember it. He went to church every Sunday and sang in the choir, practicing on weekday nights. In Bellevue, he sang in Cascadian Chorale and the jazz ensemble A Touch of Class. In Mason County, Wash., he read to school children as a volunteer. In Renton, he hosted an exchange student from Japan. In South Bend, he volunteered with the Boy Scouts, helping his sons earn merit badges, pitch tents and light camp fires. Taking classes at night, he earned a master’s degree in 1973 from Indiana University South Bend. He led his family on cross-country treks in the summer, steering the station wagon into National Parks and KOAs. He gave his family a deep appreciation for the beauty and freedom of America. He taught his children to be self-reliant and to pursue fulfillment outside of a job. With aplomb, he bounded from duty to work to art to play. A modern day renaissance man, he balanced intellectual curiosity with a steadfast commitment to faith, community and family. Wanting little, he found multitudes. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Marnell, daughter-in-law Kyla Burton and brothers-in-law Ken Williams and Melville Pugh. He is survived by his wife of over 35 years Jeanette; sister Gertrude Williams and sister-in-law Sylvia (Pugh) Strand; children with Marnell, Steven Burton and Michele of Pittsburgh, Scott Burton and Ann of Prosper, Texas, Greg Burton of Phoenix and La Quinta, Calif.; his stepchildren Shelley and Jim O’Toole of Derry, N.H., Doug Black and Kristin of Auburn, Wash., Philip Black and Patti of Bonney Lake, Wash., and Ronda and Gene Cullup of Bonney Lake; grandchildren Catherine, Alexandra, Brett (Meg), Breanna (Christian), Blake (Natalie), Adria (Nathan); step-grandchildren Braelan, Cullen (Jenna), Torey (Tony), Philip (Nikki), Jeremy (Richard) and Aundrea (Jay); great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Washington’s National Park fund in Hal’s name, https://wnpf.org/support-parks/donate/. Plans are underway for a memorial service and celebration of life.