Emory Dewitt Thornton was born April 15, 1931 in the small town of K’Ville Georiga. Emory walked into heaven holding the hand of his best friend and niece, Viva Lee Taylor, who passed a few hours after him, on January 10, 2021. They were the last two of their generation and are now reunited with their parents and siblings.
At age 17 Emory went to work for the American Oil Company as a longshoreman to help his mother Mae and Father Hillary. He retired after 37 years in 1986 as the Regional Manager of the Southeast Division, Jacksonville, Florida. In 1952 at age 18 he was inducted into the United States Army and proudly served our Country during the Korean War until 1954. On August 9th, 1952 he married the love of his life, Joan Elizabeth Bridges and they lived happily together until her death on September 9, 2013. Their children, Larry, Debbie (Harp) and Kathy (Riggs) were the light of their lives and they gave them nine Grandchildren, nineteen Great grandchildren and one Great, Great Grandchild.
He loved every one of them and always remembered them every night in his prayers. He was fond of saying that was the only way he could remember all their names because there were so many of them.
After his retirement from Amaco Oil Company, he worked for Scotty’s Hardware on Lem Turner Rd. in Jacksonville until he was shot on January 2, 1998 in a store robbery. After his recovery, Emory and Joan moved to Waterford Estates, were they lived until their deaths. He was a proud resident of the community and made many friends while working at the Amenity Center as the pool monitor during the summer months. He was always quick to point out the rules of the pool and just as quick to share a story or two with anyone who would stop and talk.
In November 2004 he went to work at the Publix Supermarket on County Rd 210, and worked there until his passing on January 10, 2021. He was proud of his work at Publix as a bag boy, and so eager to get to work in the morning he would leave his house at 5:30 am for a shift that started at 7 am just to sit in the parking lot for an hour until they opened the doors. He made so many friends over the sixteen years that he worked there and loved all his co-workers and his customers, as he called them. Going to the grocery store at Publix on the weekends to do our weekly shopping was always at least a two-hour trip. No matter which Publix he would go to he always knew someone there he worked with over the years, or we would run into customers he built friendships with and of course he would have to stop and talk a minute or two.
They say that the true wealth of a man is not the money in his pocket but the number of lives he touched. His legacy is what he leaves behind for those he loved and the ones that loved him, and for all those that he inspired. Emory touched the lives of so many people in his 89 years of life and was truly blessed to be loved by so many.
A Graveside Service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 6th in Evergreen Cemetery, 4535 Main Street, Jacksonville.
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