Music to mark rites for Burton

BY EDIE GROSS

Over nearly three decades, hundreds of singers performed under
conductor Stephen Burton’s baton.

In church choirs. In local choral groups. In classes and
concerts at the University of Mary Washington.

Today, dozens of those singers will gather at the Fredericksburg
Chapel of Covenant Funeral Service for one last performance in
Burton’s honor.

Burton, a UMW music professor since 1981, died Friday at his
Spotsylvania County home of pancreatic cancer. He was 62.

Over the last week of his life, he jotted notes in a journal
about the kind of service he wanted his family to hold for him,
said daughter Julie Perry. Ever the comic, he wrote “Hey! Let’s
plan a funeral!” at the top of one of the pages, she said.

“He told us he wanted us to ‘hoot it up,'” she said.

Burton requested that two of his favorite songs be performed at
his funeral: “He Never Failed Me Yet” by Robert Ray and “Irish
Blessing.” Everyone who’s ever performed with Burton is invited to
help make that happen.