First a little about myself. I was born at Unity Hospital in Brooklyn, NY and lived most of the early part of my life in South Ozone Park and Rosedale, Queens, NY. I moved to the San Francisco, California (Petaluma ) area in 1970, where I have lived since. My mother, Calogera "Lillian" Sacco, was 100% Sicilian. My father, James William Burton, was primarily of English background. I attended St. Teresa of Avila in South Ozone Park, NY, and attended the STAS 50th Reunion in 2011. I then went to Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens NY. I had five brothers and one sister -- I am the youngest. Some of my surviving family still resides in New York or Pennsylvania.
I worked for the US Postal Service since 1968, retiring in November 2004. My route in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco (Marina Station) on Route 2305 since 1980. For the last few years (prior to my retirement) I had been on a special joint Labor/Management Detail working on automation in the USPS. Throughout my career, I have been active in the National Association of Letter Carriers at various levels of their structure. I have been a Full-Time Local President (San Francisco) and the Director of Education for the California State Association of Letter Carriers. As a National Representative, I had one of the best records for advocacy at Arbitration Hearings. In addition, I have edited our local union newspaper THE VOICE.
My wife, Catherine Balestrieri Burton, and I enjoy our travels throughout Europe, and usually visit our Sicilian Relatives at least once every couple of years. Her family comes primarily from Sant'Elia near Palermo, and from Sant'Agata in Messina Province.
I became interested, and then engrossed, in genealogy after my now departed cousin, Dolores Gillen, started doing some serious digging into our Sacco family tree. Much of the information that is currently in my files (on Sacco) are the results of her efforts. Until 2011, I used a FREE genealogy program from the LDS called PAF 5.2 for Windows. I had found it far more powerful than any other "pay" program and it seems to be the standard for most professional genealogists. You can download it for free from their webpage . I switched to Legacy Family Tree Software because the LDS no longer did any updates to PAF, and files from PAF are imported directly into Legacy. I use the paid version, a free version is available, which is far more powerful a tool for recording and documenting you Family Tree. I currently, Dec. 2012, have just under 10,000 people in my database. As a "spin-off" to the genealogical research, I started a Sacco Family Newsletter, that was mailed to virtually all known direct relatives in the USA (it has been discontinued)..
My computer interest started with an Apple II. The latest system in our home network is a Dell 9300 system with a BluRay Recorder and Windows & Pro. It has all the necessary speed, storage and "bells an whistles" to help me edit HD video and standard def. video for my local TV Show "Our Petaluma!" We still have an HP M8000n system with an Athlon x2 5200 processor, 4 gigs of memory, one 500 Gig hard drive (and several external drives) and a 19" LCD monitor. We also use (since Dec. 2002) a "custom" Compaq Presario 8000 Pentium IV 2.53 ghz with a HP 2000i DVD+R burner and an ATI All-In-Wonder 128 meg. 8500 videocard. Our main network printer is a Konica/Minolta 5440dl Color Laser (great printer but VERY expensive toner unless you get it on ebay). We also have a Brother 8490 AIO wireless inkjet, a HP 5530 Scanner, and other misc. equipment. Our home network also used to include our older "custom" Micro Pro system with a Pentium III 500, 256 megs, ATI All-in-Wonder Rage 128 video, DVD, etc. I also have an OLD Mustek 8000SP flatbed color scanner, an Epson Photo 870 injet printer, an Epson R220 injet printer, a Samsung WiFi digital Camera and a Cannon HD Video Camera. I was the first webmaster for the California State Association of Letter Carriers from 1997 to 2008, Golden Gate Branch 214, NALC (also from 1997 to 2008), the second webmaster of the Sonoma County Genealogical Society (1996-2012). The only non-personal webpage I still do is for the local Italian Catholic Federation, Branch 127 in Petaluma.
The award was for my series: " Reminiscing " printed in " The Voice" of GG Branch 214.
The "Western Labor Communications Association" had awarded me their Second Place Award "For outstanding achievement in the field of labor journalism in the category of 'Best Series... for calendar year 1996'." That award was for my first three articles on "Computers and the NALC"
In addition, I also was awarded their Third Place Award for 1997!
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I last updated my "public" online Genealogical Database January 5, 2006. CLICK HERE to view/search my Family Tree! If you are a known family member and wish access to the FULL family tree, email me!
Secondarynames: Anthony, Aubrey, Benninger, Boytin, Dunkerly, Edsell, Green, Greene, Griesemer, Higgins, Kitchen, Knelly, Koehler, Lawn, Llewellyn, Ogin, Parsons, Reiter, Ruth, Santee, Shaffer, Shelly, Snyder, Swank, Welding, Young.
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Comments and suggestions are always welcome!!! This page was last updated on November 30, 2012
Spence@SpenceBurton.com
© February, 1996 All Rights Reserved -- permission to copy non-personal information (excluding "coded" calendars and graphics, except for link purposes) is given, as long as appropriate recognition and written notice is given to the author. No personal information from GEDCOM files etc. may be copied in ANY WAY, without my express written consent! This page is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox, with a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels! Links provided by me on these pages DO NOT necessarily imply my endorsement or agreement with any views contained on them.