Flora Burton Larson Eck (1907-1996) was dean of students at Eastman for 26 years. Appointed in 1946, she also was the supervisor for the women’s residences and taught psychology at the School. She was actively involved with the Association of American University Women, the Four Seasons Arts Council, and the Hendersonville (NC) Symphony Orchestra. “Flora Burton was a legend in the lives of Eastman students during her long tenure,” remembers Paul Burgett (‘68 BM, ‘72 MAS, ‘76 PhD), Vice President and Dean of Students at the University of Rochester. “Dean Burton was more than a name. Like other famous Eastman figures, Dean Burton was an idea. She was capable of arousing alarm or providing relief, depending on the circumstances. She was famous for her ‘blue envelopes’ that appeared in student mailboxes in the main hall. These sometimes frightening missives summoned this student or that to appear before her for one reason or another—unhappily, to be sure, if one were flunking theory, skipping class, harboring a bottle of illicit spirits in the dorm room, or, if one were a woman, wearing blue jeans in the main hall. (I think I was invited to such command performances in at least three of those four instances.) Dean Burton was a self-possessed woman with a disciplined and elegant mien whose presence in student life was powerful and whose impact on generations of Eastman alumni is an enduring legacy.”
Eastman School of Music
