The Routons Of Henry County, TN

Catherine Routon Burton was the oldest child of Stephen James and Arendal Pearl Sanders Routon.  She was tall, had dark hair and brown eyes, characteristics of her father’s family.  She was twelve years old when her brother William Sanders and Joseph Routon were born.  So she grew up essentially as an only child, feeling more like one of the caretakers for her young brothers.  She was a graduate of Grove High School, attended Union University where she was SAE Queen and a member of Chi Omega sorority.  She graduated from Peabody College in Nashville and earned a Master’s degree from Ames College in Iowa where her thesis became a textbook.  She was a Home Ec Major with emphasis in Child Development.  She taught at Union University and after moving to Knoxville, TN with her husband, Ray Berry Burton, she taught at the University of TN for several years.  She remained an avid supporter of Chi Omega, serving in a national office, and a scholarship was established in her honor at UTK. 

 She was a very proud person.  She had a beautiful home on Hillvale Drive in Knoxville that she furnished with many antiques, some of which she had gotten from her family.  

She and her husband adopted a daughter,  Betsy Sanders Burton, and two years later they had their own son, Ray Berry, Jr.  Her husband was a very successful businessman, being an associate with I. H. Little Co., selling municipal bonds and stocks.  She was able to pursue her interests such as activities of Chi Omega, attending conventions regularly, and an avid supporter of UTK.  She had her own Packard and fur coat in the depression years.  When it was unusual for women to travel in cars without male escorts, she and three of her girlfriends took a tour of the West in a Model T automobile. 

 After her husband died and her children were grown and on their own, she lived alone in her home on Hillvale for a year, then sold the house to move into an apartment in a security complex where she lived until she suffered a strokethat required special care.  She went to a sanitarium in Knoxville where she spent the last years of her life.  Her handwriting and mind remained very clear and stable. She became close friends with the girls’ basketball coach at UT and at her funeral she was eulogized by this friend and a Chi Omega representative.