Susan and Rob Burneson created and have sustained Voices of the Violet Crown, an independent community/history project, since 2003. They’ve lived in Central Austin since 1975.
Susan’s professional and volunteer experience includes archive research; professional genealogy; community history; oral history; print, exhibit, and web design; and meeting and event planning. (See her resume here.)
Rob’s professional experience includes independent filmmaking, video production, teleconferencing services, and photography. He was a longtime Audiovisual Production Specialist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He has worked on a number of corporate, nonprofit, and independent films in Texas, including Driven by the Sun, a film about the 2001 Winston Solar Car Challenge. Rob has served as a coach/caddie for members of the United States Blind Golf Association and American Blind Golf since 2004.
Together, Rob and Susan produced the films A Community Mosaic, First Night W/ Domino & Friends, and We Planted 115 Trees; Friends of Brentwood Park founders’ oral history interviews; Texas Association of Counties past presidents’ oral histories; and Voices of the Violet Crown oral history interviews.
Susan and Rob received the Mary Faye Barnes Award for Excellence in Community History Projects for their film A Community Mosaic from the Texas Oral History Association in 2009. Susan received the Writing Award, First Place, Books by a Professional / Family History, for Heart of Texas: Life Stories of Richard Davis Hardin With Coleen Grant Hardin, from the Texas State Genealogical Society in 2019.
In 2003, Susan and other neighbors helped create the Violet Crown Festival. From 2003 to 2010 and in 2012, Susan and Rob were volunteers at the spring and fall festivals; they also helped plan and serve as volunteers at the mosaic Wall of Welcome dedication in 2008. Susan researched and created community and history exhibits and helped coordinate the Community Tent and promotions for the events. She was a founding member of the Violet Crown Community Works board, serving from 2003 to 2007. In 2006, Susan wrote the essay “Vision,” about the beginnings of the festival and VCCW, and continues to update it. The most recent Violet Crown Festival was held in May 2019.
Susan also served on the Friends of Brentwood Park Leadership Team, Crestview Neighborhood Association Executive Committee and Newsletter Committee, Hyde Park Neighborhood Association Newsletter Committee, and Hyde Park Homes Tour Committee, all in Austin, Texas. Rob and Susan were volunteers with the Empty Bowl Project in Austin from 1997 to 2007. They coordinated five family reunions in the Midwest between 1995 and 2000, and they produced two family history videos, including Winkel/Schuessler Reunion and Homes Tours in 2021. A Pillers/Kenner family reunion video is forthcoming.