Virginia Lee Burton

Aristides Burton Demetrios is a sculptor of figurative and abstract works, ranging from large public commissions to private pieces for gardens. 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.

In 1941, Burton founded the textile collective, Folly Cove Designers, in Cape Ann, Massachusetts and designed some of the textiles. Its works were included in arts and crafts exhibitions of the 1940s and 1950s. It reflected the earlier Arts and Crafts Movement of the 19th century, "both in its union of design and production and in the formation as a cooperative guild. The linoleum block print designs for domestic items were innovative and unique, bringing recognition and accolades to the group." The group sold some of their textiles to major retailers such as Lord & Taylor, F. Schumacher, Rich's of Atlanta and Skinner Silks.

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:

In fall 1930, Burton enrolled in a Saturday morning drawing class taught by sculptor and artist George Demetrios at the Boston Museum School. By spring, the two artists were married. 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.

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 newspaper 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".

When Virginia was about 8 years old, her family moved to San Diego, California, as the New England winters were hard on her mother's health. Her father, close to his retirement in 1921 after 40 years at MIT, took a leave of absence. A year later the family settled 450 miles north in Carmel-by-the-Sea, then a small, artistic community. Burton and her sister took dance and art lessons, performing in local productions. Her parents divorced in 1925, and her father returned to Boston.

Virginia Lee Burton (August 30, 1909 – October 15, 1968), also known by her married name Virginia Demetrios, was an American illustrator and children's book author. She wrote and illustrated seven children's books, including Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939) and The Little House (1943), which won the Caldecott Medal. She also illustrated six books by other authors.

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. Virginia Burton's father, Alfred E. Burton, married Lena Yates after he had been widowed with two sons. Yates was 30 years his junior. They were married in 1906, having met on a walking trip in France. Notably, Burton's father served as the first Dean of Student Affairs for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1902-1921). Alfred Burton had been widowed.