RIVERTON -- A celebration of the life of Tonia Christine Burnette will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, April 10, 2006, at the Robert A. Peck Center at Central Wyoming College where she worked as arts center director for 18 years. The Rev. Inga Oyan Longbrake will officiate.

A reception will follow in the Arts Center Gallery.

Cremation has taken place.

Born Dec. 13, 1940, to Joseph E. Rulli and Peggy George Rulli in Sheridan, she grew up there and graduated from Sheridan High School.

She attended the University of Wyoming and earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1963. She was the UW Homecoming Queen in 1961.

On June 13, 1964, she married Garry Burnette in Sheridan. Because he was a management consultant, they lived in many places including Indiana, Virginia, Michigan, Utah, Maryland, and 10 years in Toronto. Their children, son Todd and daughter Shelby, were born in Toronto. She worked as a high school English teacher in Oregon and Maryland.

The family moved to Riverton in 1973, and she established herself as one of the city's most active and effective public servants for the next 33 years.

She was employed by Central Wyoming College from 1979 to 2000.

In the mid-1970s, she lead the drive to preserve the Chicago and North Western Railroad depot, which became Riverton's official U.S. bicentennial project. The depot now is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

She helped establish Arts in Action, was a founder of the Wind River Arts Foundation, and a founding board member of the summer band concert series Hot Notes/Cool Nites.

Gov. Ed Herschler named her the recipient of the Governor's Arts Award in 1982.

She was elected in 1996 and later re-elected to two terms on the Riverton School Board. She was a member in the Riverton Kiwanis Club, and was a member of the Riverton Downtown Beautification Committee.

She traveled extensively to Greece, and elsewhere in Europe, Hawaii and Mexico.

Survivors include her husband; son Todd and his wife and family of Park City, Utah; daughter Shelby Rodriguez and her husband and family of Denver; a brother; and a sister-in-law.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and a brother, Joe Rulli.

Memorials may be made to a scholarship fund in her name through Wyoming National Bank, 1700 N. Federal, Riverton, WY 82501.