Born on 18 July 1925, he was raised on a farm in the Swan River area, leaving school early to help run the farm while his brothers were in the army and his father was injured in an accident. He later moved to Winnipeg to train as a carpenter, eventually established his own construction firm, S. D. Burton Limited, that was responsible for many commercial buildings in the city.
His company was the first in Manitoba to use a crane for assembling tall buildings. In later years, he was a consultant on northern housing to the government of the North West Territories and he was Project Manager on the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
He and wife Margery had four children. He was a member of Portage Avenue Baptist Church. In retirement, he moved to Sicamous, British Columbia where he took up wood carving. He returned to Winnipeg in 2002 where he died on 28 December 2014.
Some of his construction works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
Lions Manor (North Tower)
320 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg
1964-1965
130 Allard Avenue, Winnipeg
1966-1967
Demolished (2023)
“First Winnipeg use for caterpillar crane,” Winnipeg Tribune, 1 July 1964, page 29.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 3 January 2015.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 June 2023
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