Early life and education Virginia Burton was born in
Newton Centre, Massachusetts. As a child, she was called "Jinnee". Her mother was Lena Yates, a lyric poet and artist from England whose poetry was first published at age 20. Yates later published children's books under the name Lena Dalkeith. Later, she went by the moniker
Jeanne D'Orge. Burton had an older sister, Christine, and younger brother, Alexander Ross Burton, in addition to their father's first two sons,
Harold Hitz Burton and Felix Arnold Burton. Harold became an attorney, politician and
Supreme Court Justice; and Arnold an architect.
Return to East Coast In 1928, after a year at art school, Burton moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where her father was living. It was also closer to her sister, by then a dancer in New York City, who invited Virginia to join her. Their father broke his leg, and Burton stayed in Boston to help him. She found work as a "sketcher" for the
Boston Evening Transcript (now defunct). For two-and-a-half years, she worked under its drama and music critic. Portraying actors and other performers, she signed her drawings as "VleeB". For a year, the couple lived in
Lincoln, where their first son
Aristides (called Ari) was born. They moved to the Folly Cove neighborhood of
Gloucester. Their second son Michael was born in nearby
Groton on Burton's birthday in 1935. Burton said her first published book,
Choo Choo (1935), about an
anthropomorphic train engine, reflected strategy she learned from reactions to her first book, which was not published: Burton was known for designing the whole work: design, illustration, typeface, and space. Burton died on October 15, 1968, of
lung cancer.
Sons Aristides Burton Demetrios was a sculptor of figurative and abstract works, ranging from large public commissions to private pieces for gardens. Aristides died December 12, 2021, in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 89.
Michael Burton Demetrios was a businessman, leading
Marine World Africa in its numerous locations in the United States. Since 1998 he had been president of
Intra-Asia, a US company with two amusement parks in China and plans for five additional. Michael died August 5, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. ==Awards and legacy==