Obituaries

Nora Davis BurtonVolunteer

Nora Davis Burton, 88, a Washington area volunteer and the wife of a Marine Corps officer, died Dec. 14 of ovarian cancer at her home in Fairfax City. She had lived in Northern Virginia since 1959.

Mrs. Burton was born in Honolulu in what was then the territory of Hawaii. After graduating from high school in 1936, she married a Marine Corps lieutenant. The couple lived in Virginia, South Carolina and Cuba before being transferred back to Hawaii, six days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

During World War II, Mrs. Burton volunteered with a Honolulu blood bank while her husband fought in the South Pacific. She continued her volunteer work during her years in Northern Virginia, volunteering with the Red Cross at Quantico, serving as a member of the Altar Guild of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Arlington County and driving for Meals on Wheels.

Her husband, retired Brig. Gen. Custis Burton Jr., died in 1991.

Survivors include two daughters, Sherrill Davis Burton of Whangaparaoa, New Zealand, and Suzanne Leslie Burton of Denver.

Betty SnyderReal Estate Agent

Betty Snyder, 81, a former fashion model and an Arlington County real estate agent, died Dec. 26 at Powhatan Nursing Home in Arlington. She had lived in Arlington since 1977.

Mrs. Snyder was born in Waltham, Mass., where she finished high school and began a course in medical technology at what is now Brandeis University. Fashion became her "real vocation," she explained in a memoir she wrote for her family. She worked as a model in Boston in the late 1940s and early 1950s and for Jelleff's department store in Washington in the 1950s and 1960s.

Married to a Navy officer, she lived for extended periods in Argentina and Puerto Rico, where she became fluent in Spanish. From 1970 until 1988, she was a real estate agent with Better Homes Realty and Coldwell Banker in Arlington.

Mrs. Snyder enjoyed travel, particularly extended trips as a passenger on her husband's motorcycle.

With her Spanish fluency, she assisted immigrants who had recently moved to the Washington area.

Her marriage to Robert Casey ended in divorce.

Survivors include her husband of 30 years, John Snyder of Arlington; five children from her first marriage, Catherine Casey-Flavin of Eliot, Maine, Robert Casey of Glen Allen, Va., Christopher Casey of Atlantic Beach, Fla., James Casey of Crofton and Edmund Casey of Alexandria; a sister; and nine grandchildren.