Who Is Barry Burton?

I have a copy of Barry Burton's book, that is identified as being a 11th printing. It has a 1983 copyright date. My edition has no information about the author. It is dedicated to George Galligar who is said to have discussed the subject with the author. The references listed for it are three books by David Otis Fuller, J. J. Ray's book, the two books by Edward F. Hills, and two books by Peter Ruckman.

 

https://d3hgrlq6yacptf.cloudfront.net/5f4766d57c3ad/content/pages/documents/1442689835.pdf

This book refers to him as follows: "Norman Ward and Barry Burton are informed laymen whose books are invaluable primers."

Looking up the name on Google Books and Google Scholar, I am finding a few Barry Burtons with Seventh Day Adventist connections, but that wouldn't seem to match the bio given on the Chick Tracts site.

 

Summerville, Oregon seems to be a small town. Its population is given as being 135 for the 2010 census.

There is an independent Baptist Church there called Summerville Baptist Church, which has a facebook page. Perhaps it could be contacted to see if it had a Barry Burton as youth pastor around 1982.

 

Seemed to be very KJVO!

 

When searching, it might be worthwhile for everyone to note the middle initial "D." That might help distinguish him at some point.

On Find-A-Grave I was able to locate only one George with the "Galligar" spelled that way. He is buried at Macon County, Illinois. (There are only 82 such surname spellings on Find-A-Grave.) Of course, that could be a misspelling (hopefully not, in a dedication), or he might not be dead yet, etc. (However, the dedication gave me the feeling that Burton was the younger and Galligar the older.)
George F. Galligar
Nevertheless, I did not find a Barry Burton around there who seemed like he would be the right one.

Good find. Not being a preacher will make it less likely to identify him through newspaper references, which I had hoped might work.

Where did Summerville, Oregon come in? I missed that. Thanks.

 

It is mentioned in the author information at the chick.com web site at the bottom of the page.

Click on read more about the author, and this is the first statement:
"Around 1982 or 1983 we had been going to a small church in Summerville, Oregon."

 

Thanks. I see on their website that they have Burton's book in their library, though that may not be particularly meaningful.

The person at this obituary (link below) may be the person who wrote the book. Though the obituary does not give anything that would connect him to church or the book, I found in public records on ancestry that he did live in La Grande, Oregon, which is the county seat of Union County, where Summerville is located. On the other hand, that could just be a coincidence.
Barry Dean Burton

 

To have be a youth pastor in 1982, I would think that the man would be at least 20 or likely in his 20's or 30's. He would not have to have lived in the small town of Summerville to go to church there. He could have lived in a nearby town or with a rural address from a nearby town. The author information had said that the person was going to a church in Summerville, but it didn't say he lived there.

The Barry Dean Burton that you located would have been around 27 in 1982 so he may be a possibility if he was living in Oregon in 1982 and 1983. A small church with only 4 or 5 teenagers in 1982 would have likely asked a volunteer to be youth pastor, not hire someone who had been to Bible college or seminary.

 

I can confirm that the Barry Dean Burton in the obit and the one who lived in La Grande, Oregon are the same person. What I have not discovered yet, is whether he lived there in 1982. If he were there in 1982, that would be fairly compelling evidence, though still circumstantial.

 

By the way, I noticed that there was a phone number listed in the 2020 obituary for a Ben likely a son or possibly a grandson. Perhaps he could be contacted to see if he knows if this Barry Burton was a youth pastor in Summerville, Oregon, in 1982 or 1983 or if he knows if he wrote a book.

 

I should have added that there is a range in which the record resides -- 1950-1993. So at least the range does not exclude 1982-83.