William Joseph Mr. Thornton, Sr.

Following graduation from Palestine High School, he served in the Army Air Corps in North Africa during World War II. In 1950 he graduated from Texas A&M University where he served as the first civilian yell leader.

He married Lois Lavon Wilson on May 27, 1950. He coached the Brenham baseball team to a district championship in 1952. Mr. Thornton worked for the civil service at Electronic Security Command for thirty years and retired in 1987 and Deputy Director for Manpower and Organization.

He served in the roles of President, Vice President and Secretary for the North Side Independent School District NISD for 21 years and represented NISD on the Bexar County Federation of School Boards and on the Board of Directors for the Texas Association of School Boards.

He served as President of the Lackland City Elementary PTA, Rayburn Middle School PTA and Holmes High School Booster Club.

As a resident of San Antonio, he was a faithful member of the Catholic Church. He was a member of the following San Antonio parishes: Saint Vincent De Paul, Saint Dominic's, Saint Luke's and lastly Our Lady of Guadalupe in Helotes. Mr. Thornton was also a member of the Knights of Columbus assembly no. 2102 and the Texas A&M Letterman's Association.

He was consistently moral, faithful, inspirational, strong, patriotic and good. As a father he taught from the beginning to the end. We always knew he was a fantastic role model and taught us love for family, love for a spouse, love of people and most importantly a love and commitment to a church and a faith life.

He also taught us the values of work, doing your best and the importance of athletics, which always played a key role in his life. He made us feel that we were capable of much and helped us to imagine achievements greater than we could have done on our own.

Education was always a must and his support for his children was relentless. He had great poise and presence and had passion for family, Texas A&M, pecan grafting, and telling a story with exaggeration worked in for effect.

He had a way of bringing out the best in people who came in contact with him. He would make you feel good about yourself because he truly was interested in your story.

He will be missed more than can be imagined and will continue to influence us through out the rest of our lives.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Lois Lavon Thornton. He is survived by his sons, Paul Thornton and wife Nicole of San Antonio, Bill Thornton of Ft. Worth, and John Thornton and wife Lanie of College Station; daughter, Cynthia Crozier of Gonzales; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and brothers, Robert Thornton of Houston and George Thornton of San Diego, CA.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to William J. Thornton Elementary School, 6450 Pembroke Road, San Antonio, TX 78240-2585, 210-397-3950.