Palestine High School Alumni Association

12 / 12 / 1914  –  01 / 21 / 2003

Services for Elva Barton Thornton, 88, of Athens will be at 10 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Athens with Rev. James Bond and Dr. Kyle Henderson officiating.  Burial will follow in Judson Cemetery in Cayuga under the direction of Carroll-Lehr Funeral Home of Athens.

Mrs. Thornton died Tuesday at East Texas Medical Center of Athens.  She was born December 12, 1914, in Cayuga to Richard Earnest and Jewel Vesta Harton Barton.  Mrs. Thornton graduated from Palestine High School in 1932, attended East Texas Baptist College in Marshall and Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville.  She resided in Midland from 1951 to 1965 and in Houston from 1965 to 1969.  She moved to Athens in 1970.  She was a member of First Baptist Church of Athens where she taught Sunday School and was the director of Women’s Missionary Union.  She was a genealogist and history.

Mrs. Thornton was preceded in death by her husband, C.L. “Ted
Thornton; an infant son; and grandson, Clark Thornton.

She is survived by sons, C.L. Thornton, Jr. of Streetman and Richard Darrell Thornton of Athens, four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Bill Cogdell, Ricky Simmons, David Hull, David Kelley, Dr. Bob Foster and Osborne Williams.  Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. David Bowles, Leroy Barton and C.W. Harton.

Visitation will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. tonight at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to Judson Cemetery Association or Judson Baptist Church.

Source:  Palestine Herald Press