Johanna Maria Burton

Johanna was born May 25, 1930, in Munich, Germany, to Franz Xavier Dauer and Johanna Maria Karl Dauer. Her mother died when she was only 6, so she and her three sisters spent time in an orphanage until Franz was able to bring them home. As an adolescent in Bavaria during World War II, she told harrowing stories of crowded bomb shelters and running to hide whenever she heard American airplanes. But after the war she fell in love with an American airman in occupied Germany, James Henry Burton, and they were married in 1951.

As an airman's wife, she lived in many places, including Morocco, Germany, Kansas, California, Maine, and New York. In 1965, she and her husband and three sons settled in Phoenix, where she lived the rest of her life. She became a naturalized citizen of the US and spent many years working for Broadway and Macy's, where she started as a part-time associate and retired as a floor manager. Famous for her industriousness, at different times of her life she kept busy bowling, knitting and crocheting, yardwork and gardening, fishing, cross-country skiing, cooking and baking German treats, and hanging out with German friends. She was a fearless traveler even into her Ns, could make friends wherever she went, and was always generous and supportive to family and friends.

Johanna was predeceased by her husband James Henry Burton (1924-1982), two sisters (Ellie and Ziggi) and granddaughter (Brandi) and is survived by sister Elfrida, sons James (Betty), Joe (Denise) and Jeff (Mary), five grandsons, two granddaughters, numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.