• Superintendents of Humble

    Superintendent #8

    Dr. Floyd H. Burton

    Dr. Floyd Burton

    Dr. Floyd Hayne Burton was born in Lovelady, Texas on October 3, 1903.  He earned his Doctorate degree from the University of Texas in June, 1953.

    He was hired by Humble ISD as a mathematics teacher on June 16, 1931. In his early days in Humble, Dr. Burton pitched for the Sun Oilers, a semi-pro baseball team during the 1931, 1932, and 1933 seasons.

    He met his future wife, Mary Sadler, while she taught in Humble from 1933 through 1935.  Floyd Burton left Humble in 1936 to become school superintendent in Lovelady, Texas. Floyd and Mary were wed in 1937 in Galveston by Mary's father, Reverend Garland Z. Sadler.  

    Dr. Burton became Superintendent of the Humble Independent School District in 1942.  His wife continued to teach elementary school, and later high school English.  They raised a family of five children.  Dr. Burton served as Superintendent in Humble ISD until his death 19 years later. 

    Under Dr. Burton’s leadership the district grew from three schools (Bender HS, Humble Grammar Schools, and the Colored School) to four schools (with the loss of the Colored School, and the addition of Humble Elementary and Lakeland Elementary).  He also led the district as it avoided being merged with the East and West Houston School District in the 1950s.

    He was a past president of the Harris County School Administrators Association, a past president of the Humble Lions Club, a member of the Humble Lodge 979, the Houston Consistory Arabia Temple Shrine, and a member of the board of stewards of the Humble Methodist Church.  He was also active in the Humble Chamber of Commerce.

    On September 10, 1961, Dr. Burton was involved in a fatal car accident.  He had been returning from Austin, where he had gone to take his daughter Joan to enter the University of Texas.  Unfortunately, he arrived back in the Humble area during Hurricane Carla.  He was within 6 or 7 miles of Humble when his car went out of control and crashed into a culvert.  His son, Garland, was in the car with him but was not injured.  He died two days later on September 12, 1961.  Classes in Humble, which had been stopped by the hurricane, remained closed until the day after Dr. Burton's death to allow students and community members time to attend the funeral.