Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9303310441
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Charles Stebbins
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
IN THE FIELD - AND THE GARDEN - OF HIS CHOICE
Mark Burton always wanted to be a farmer.He's not quite sure why, "but I thought being a farmer was a rather neat thing to do."
He also had a love of the outdoors. Although he never became a farmer, he went into horticulture because it is closely related.
Burton, supervisor of the grounds department at Roanoke College, says his interest began shifting to horticulture while he was in high school and working part-time with a lawn-care company.
He says now that he feels lucky to have a job in a field that he likes and that he enjoys getting dirty doing his job.
In horticulture, he has guided a grounds crew at Roanoke College in Salem to two awards for excellence in landscaping.
The most recent was the Grand Award for 1992 from the Professional Grounds Management Society. It is that group's highest award and Roanoke College competed in the Schools and Universities category, one of 12 judging classifications.
The other award was in 1991, a citation for excellence in landscaping given by the City of Salem.
When Burton started working for Roanoke College, there was no formal tree-care program, says Burton "A lot of the trees were in bad shape; there was a lot of dead wood."
Also, the college's budget for its flower program amounted to only about $100 a year which was used to maintain just 10 flower beds.
But by 1991 Burton's team had built this up to 52 beds with an annual budget of about $1,600. The department also is responsible for approximately 52 acres of lawn, 15 acres of walkways and parking lots, 1 1/2 acres of planting beds and about 479 trees.
\ Full name: William Mark Burton.
\ Age: 33.
\ Residence: Roanoke.
\ Family: Wife, Jennifer, assistant to the administrator at Gill Memorial Hospital; one son, Andrew, 2.
\ Education: Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia Western Community College and Virginia Tech.
\ Birthplace: Baltimore, but moved to Roanoke Valley at age 1.
\ Job experience: Part time as high school student with Agri-Turf Products, a lawn-care company. in 1982, after earning a degree in horticulture from Virginia Tech, Burton opened his own landscaping business in Roanoke.
This was a success, but after a while his workers went on to other opportunities, and Burton began doing all the work himself. The stresses of being the sole operator caused Burton to burn out. It was then, 1987, he saw a newspaper ad for someone to take over the grounds department at Roanoke College.
\ Goal of grounds department: To create a pleasing appearance that will make a good first impression to visitors.
"If it looks good on the outside, it's good on the inside, too. We get only one chance to make a good first impression."
\ Hardest aspect of job. Communications between himself and his other team members and all the college people involved in various functions that involve the grounds department.
"There are a lot of people involved, and that requires a lot of communications to make sure everything goes smoothly."
The grounds department not only takes care of plantings but also is involved in many of the outdoors activities at the college, such as graduation exercises on the lawn.
\ Secret to winning awards: A spirit of cooperation by all of the groundskeepers at the college, Burton says.
"A lot of teamwork is the reason for our success. That's the only way we can get all of our work done - to work together as a team," he says of the eight members of the grounds department.
Each team member strives for quality and expects it from each other.
\ Burton's team: Bob Shupe, whose specialities are walkways and masonry work; Jerry Lefler, the keeper of flower beds; Bob Hammond, the lawn specialist; Bill Tatum, the tree specialist; and Carson Thomas and Cody Jones, both general groundskeepers; David Moore, a part-timer who is a senior at the college.
All full-time employees have had previous management experience and several have operated their own businesses.
\ Favorite plants: Daffodil because it is one of the first to peek through early in the year with a message that spring is on the way.
He also likes nandina because it is a colorful shrub.
"Generally, I like anything that's colorful because color makes the landscape more interesting."
\ Reading: Anything by Tom Clancy. His favorite Clancy book is "Red Storm Rising."
\ Favorite sports: Volleyball. Plays on teams with the Roanoke Valley Volleyball Association.
\ Recreation: Enjoys television but has no favorite shows. Also enjoys movies and working around his house.
Keywords:
PROFILE
Memo: NOTE: This also ran in Current April 7, 1993.