Mrs. Mildred Juanita Byrd Thornton VanDevender of Mobile peacefully entered into rest January 3, 2021 at the Saad Hospice Center surrounded by her family. Mrs. VanDevender was born October 24, 1927 in Prichard, Alabama.
Family members include her children, Virginia Ann Thornton Blanchard (Wayne), Eugene Fabretta Thornton, Jr. (Linda), Alan Lewis Thornton, Sr. (Rhonda), and Laurie Jean Thornton Hutchens (Gary Ganey), 17 grandchildren, 31 great grandchildren, and 6 great great grandchildren. Her stepsons are Odie VanDevender (Maureen) and James VanDevender (Judy).
Mrs. VanDevender was predeceased by her parents, Gertie Belle Jackson Byrd Stanford and John Louis Byrd, her first husband, Eugene Fabretta Thornton, Sr., her second husband the Rev. James Marcelle VanDevender, and her siblings Bobby Gene Byrd, Louis Max Byrd, and Mary Virginia Byrd Neal.
A graduate of Huffstetler Business College, Mrs. VanDevender worked at Mason Plan during WWII and Brookley Air Force Base from 1951-1968. She and her husband Gene also ran a successful Amway business before retirement. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Nita loved her family and was a devoted member of the Thornton Family Rosary Group which has been meeting weekly and praying together for over 30 years.
Special thanks and appreciation are given to the staff of Saad Hospice Center and Mobile Infirmary Home Care.
Her funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at Little Flower Catholic Church at 1 PM in Mobile. The family will receive visitors one hour before Mass. Interment will be at Pine Crest Funeral Home and Cemetery, 1939 Dauphin Island Parkway, Mobile, AL 36605.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Catholic Charities at 365 Government St., Mobile, AL 36602, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at www.StJude.org/donate. The family requests that those attending the visitation or Mass please practice social distancing and wear masks.
