Dr. Orneita Gray Burton, 68, longtime Abilene Christian University professor of management sciences and information systems, died Oct. 5, 2025.

A memorial service is planned for today at 2 p.m. at Elmwood Funeral Home (5750 Highway 277 South, Abilene, Texas).

Burton was born April 6, 1957, in Blytheville, Arkansas, one of 12 children in her family. An engineering and enterprise technology consultant, she earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas (1980), an M.S. in management information systems from Texas A&M University-Central Texas (1986), and a doctorate in business administration from Arizona State University (2006).

She began her career as a process control engineer for Phillips Petroleum Company (1980-82); a quality and productivity manager, systems engineer and manager and process engineer for Mobil Chemical Company in Temple, Texas, and a research and systems engineer in Rochester, New York (1982-93).

Burton began teaching in 2000 as an instructor in ACU’s College of Business Administration, eventually earning joint roles as a professor in the Department of Management Sciences and School of Information Technology. She also served various teaching and research roles in Arizona State’s Department of Information Systems (2001-06) and the graduate faculty in energy management and the Master of Energy Business program at the University of Tulsa (2012-18).

In 2014 she taught COBA students in a summer Study Abroad experience in Oxford, England. She received the college’s Service Award in 2011 and was named COBA’s Online Teacher of the Year for 2023-24.

“Orneita was an amazing role model and active mentor. She was kind, encouraging, highly conscientious and committed to service,” said former COBA dean and colleague Dr. Brad Crisp (’93). “She played a key role in exposing business students to SAP enterprise systems, which created career opportunities for our information systems majors in particular. She will be greatly missed.”

Burton served as associate editor, special issues editor and on the board of the Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, and was active in research and publication, and in presentations at professional conferences. She served in several roles for the Academy of Management, and was respected for providing leadership for colleagues on the topic of faith in business.

She was deeply involved in church and community, serving on the board of ACU’s Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action and as a member of numerous other organizations. Burton also was the principal agent for the startup in 1987 of Central Texas Christian School in Temple, Texas, and was involved in the development of Southwest Christian School in Phoenix, Arizona.

Burton was preceded in death by her parents, Rennie Gray and Everlena Gray; brothers Rennie Gray Jr. and Vernon A. Gray; and a sister, Emma Jean Gray-Banks.

Among survivors are Dwain Burton Sr. (M.S. ’08), her husband of 39 years; a son, Jonathan Burton (’13) and his wife, Jennifer (Freire ’15) Burton; a son, Brian Burton (’18); grandchildren Axel, Kleio Liliana-Beatrice, Myra, Jericho and Mayva; and brothers William E. Gray, and Michael R. Gray and his wife, Teresa. Survivors also include sisters Evelyn Fisher and her husband, A.J.; Janett Gray Hardaway and her husband, John; Denice Bland and her husband, George; Lisa Hunt and her husband, Kenneth; Treva Gray; and special sister-niece Angela Anderson and her husband, André.

– Ron Hadfield
  Oct. 13, 2025