John Lyle Berton (1947-2015)
John Berton lost his four-plus-year, lonely but courageous battle with multiple myeloma between Nov. 27-28, 2015. Born in Shawano on Dec. 23, 1947, he passed away roughly one month before his 68th birthday.
John’s professional career spanned the cities of Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Venice, California, and Ashland, Oregon.
John was a visionary artist. Although he was foremost a dancer and choreographer, his creativity spanned many media. He was a woodsmith, a wordsmith and vocalist. His faith was rooted in nature. “The marvel of every day and everything on our planet is nothing more than heavenly,” he would often say. In short, he was a spirited soul who remained resolved and happy even to the end of his life.
He was a company member of the Milwaukee Ballet Theater, Utah’s Pioneer Theater Company and Alwin Dance Company, Los Angeles’ Imagination Company and the world-renowned Ashland, Oregon, Shakespeare Festival. A performance injury ended his professional career.
Rhythm was John’s heaven. He lived it through music and dance, but also through the sounds and wonder of nature. He firmly believed that his talent was meant to appeal to people of different ages, from many locations, and living in various circumstances. He was most fulfilled when he performed in intimate venues such as nursing homes, schools or in Trolley Square on a Saturday morning. He wanted people to feel the joy in the world that he saw in dance, movement, light, life and sound. He so enjoyed the vibe between his audience and him.
John was blessed to have many good memories of his career in the arts. Each location provided different opportunities for his talents to flourish. He was very proud of his work and positive reviews over the years but was especially gratified by the many audience members, strangers all, who made a special effort to compliment him on his warmth and charm on stage.
John is survived by his siblings, Bonnie (Dennis) Burke, Terry Berton (Beverly), Guy (Candy) Berton, Kent (Lynn) Berton, and Blake Berton; nieces and nephews, Michelle Burke, Michael Burke, Brian (Barbara) Burke, Joe Berton, April (David) Bensch; and several grandnieces and grandnephews. He is also survived by many first and second cousins.
John was preceded in death of his parents, Lyle and LaVerna Berton.
Remembrance gatherings to celebrate John’s life will be held in Ashland, Oregon, most likely on Dec. 19, 2015, and in Shawano during the weekend of July 16, 2016. High school classmates will post information on the Shawano Class of ‘66 Facebook page.
People are encouraged to memorialize John’s life by donating to a foodbank, homeless shelter program, cancer research directed toward finding a cure for multiple myeloma, a local dance troupe, local theater, or any cause John cared about.
Condolences may be emailed to kberton51@gmail.com or to Brother Blake at blakeberton@ymail.com.
To aid in notification and to honor John’s life, a Facebook page will be set up in his memory at a later date. People will be able to post comments to the cloud where John currently lives. Parts of his accomplishments of the past will be posted over time. He simply did more in life than many do not adequately know of, appreciate or recognize. And he “Did It My Way.”
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