Mildred Shirley Thornton

Funeral services for Mrs. Mildred Shirley Thornton will be held at 3 pm Saturday, November 28 , 2009 in the chapel of Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery of Natchitoches. The services will be conducted by Mr. Doyle Bailey. Mrs. Thornton, 83 of Natchitoches, passed away Friday, November 27, 2009. She was born March 12, 1926 to the late Robert Lee Shirley and Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Curry Shirley in Winnfield, LA and was the youngest of eleven siblings that have preceded her in death as well. She was preceded in death by her husband of 34 years, Donald R.Thornton. Mrs. Thornton lived in Baton Rouge and New Orleans after her marriage, and for many years in Huntington Beach and Sacramento, California, returning to Natchitoches, Louisiana with her husband after retirement. She loved spending time with her grandchildren, reading, traveling, and keeping in touch with friends. She was a loving mother and grandmother, and will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She is survived by a son, John Dale Thornton and his wife Patricia of Natchitoches; two daughters, Patricia Thornton Spillman and her husband Jim of Natchitoches and Molly Cheri Thornton and her fiance’ James Olivas of San Jose, California; four grandchildren, Adam Spillman of Montgomery, Alabama, Sara Spillman Taitano, Amanda N. Spillman, both of Natchitoches and Ashley D. Spillman of Austin, Texas; a great grandchild, Jesse Allen Taitano, numerous nieces, nephews and many close friends.