Bio - Burnett, Bill and Virginia, Minturn, Eagle County, Colorado By: Jean Winthers Bill and Davey Burnett Printed in Vail Daily - Local's Corner- September 27, 1999 Surrounded by their two daughters, five of six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and Bill's brother and sister, Bill and Virginia "Davey" Burnett's extended family is one of the core families of Minturn. The Burnetts, Minturn High School sweethearts, have been married for 58 years, and have lived in the Minturn home they built themselves since 1946. Their home on Toledo Avenue stands next door to the second oldest house in Minturn, built in 1850 by early settler John Bocco, for whom the town was first named. Daughter Billie Jean and her husband, James Lovato, live next door in a log home built in 1936. The Lovatos have taken over the Burnett Plumbing Heating and Electric business, and use the old house between them for an office, as Bill did for many years. Another daughter, Terrel Ann Pierson, and her husband, Victor, Bill's brother, Pete, and his sister, Bernice Moore, also all live in Minturn. Minturn (only newcomers pronounce the 't') as it was renamed in 1887 for a director of the railroad, was important in the early days of the valley because of the Denver and Rio Grande Western roundhouse that was built there. It was because of the railroad that Bill's parents, Katherine and John "Dod" Burnett, a railroad car inspector, came to Minturn in 1918 from Salida. Bill was born in a house next door to the Hard Rock Cafe in 1921. "The Burnetts got into railroading through Grandfather Burnett, and my father wanted me to become a railroader. But you had to have 20 years seniority to hold steady work," Bill said. "So I went to work at the Gilman mine instead." But that was after he graduated high school in 1938 with eight in his class, seven boys and one girl. At that time all 12 grades were in one building, where the Minturn City Hall is now. Bill met and courted Virginia Davey in high school, and they were married in 1941, after she graduated in a class of 13. Born in Aspen to Herbert and Ella Davey, Davey was raised by her uncle and aunt, Rick and Ann Holmes, after her parents died. Rick Holmes worked at the Gilman mine as a shift boss, and Davey went to school in Minturn. Bill worked in the Gilman mine until 1944, when he left for the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantryman in the Philippines. He resumed his mill career when he returned in 1946, and continued at Gilman for 12 more years, first as a mill operator and then in the machine shop. He has many interesting tales to tell of his work at Gilman, now a ghost town, and, in fact, has written a book about it, which he hopes to publish someday. He has also written a history of Minturn, a subject he knows a lot about, having lived through and helped create much of its history. Bill was shop superintendent when he left Gilman in 1958 to become his own boss. Studying on his own, Bill became a licensed master plumber, and also a master licensed electrician. "I called my company Burnett Plumbing, Heating, Electrical. At one time I had 13 men working for me. My brother, Pete, was a road supervisor in Vail, and between the two of us, we built a lot of early Vail. I worked on The Red Lion, the Village Inn and a lot of houses in Lake Creek and Squaw Creek. We even went to Steamboat and Leadville," Bill said. "I got arrested once when I was working in Leadville. They came and took me to the courthouse and I had to buy a license. I was working at the District Attorney's house, and they found out I didn't have a license," Bill said with a laugh. In the meantime, Davey was busy tending to her home and two daughters. As they grew up and married, there were grandchildren and then great-grandchildren to be involved with and enjoy. Davey also loved to bowl, and bowled many a game at the alley in Gilman, and later, in Avon. "When that closed, I went to Leadville," she said. "In 1947, I ran for Justice of the Peace," Bill said. "I did that until 1964. I did everything a judge does - traffic violations, wage garnishments, weddings, alcoholism. There was no police officers in Minturn then, except for a state patrolman. I carried on the court right here in the house. "I did about six weddings. We had one neighbor who acted as a witness. She would come to our house, where I held the weddings, sit down in the kitchen, put a crocheted doily over her head and cry." Bill was also on the town council in 1948 and stayed there for 12 years, and is now once again a Minturn councilman. He also serves on the board of the Eagle County Library, among other civic duties. "In 1955 we got the sewer to come into Minturn," he remembers. "That was the ruination of Eagle county because then Eagle-Vail was born, and all that building started." A knee replacement and a heart pacemaker for Bill and a hip replacement for Davey has slowed the couple only slightly. They travel to Arizona in the winter with their camper trailer and keep busy with family affairs. Bill writes his stories putting down invaluable historical information that few people now remember. He is also working on an autobiography of his interesting life. As for Davey, much of her time is spent "just following him." =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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