SpringfieldNewsSun.com

In the real estate business, it's easy to tell others what they want to hear.

But Willie Burton was honest, said his son, Jim Burton. He told it like it was and taught others to do the same.

Willie Burton, 72, died Friday. Burton, the president and owner of Burton-Minnick Realtors, had been in the real estate business since 1959, his son said. He served two terms as president of the Springfield Board of Realtors.

"The entire business infatuated him," said his son, also a real estate broker with his father's company.

Willie Burton developed Glenco Estates and Yorkshire Court, where he and his wife, Janice, lived. In 1969 he was also part of the first Graduate Real Estate Institute at Wittenberg University, said his son, of Galloway.

He and his wife shared a love of travel, visiting spots around the country and world, including Europe, Australia, Korea, Israel and Turkey.

In addition to his wife and son, Burton is survived by two other children, Teresa Harrison, of Tucson, Ariz., and Lisa Sarchett of Colorado Springs, Colo.; four grandchildren and two sisters.

Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in the Richards, Raff & Dunbar Memorial Home and one hour prior to the 11 a.m. Tuesday service in the First Christian Church.

Masonic services by St. Andrew's Lodge 619 will be at 7:45 p.m. Monday. Burial will be in Rose Hill Burial Park.