Leo L. Thornton
Sept. 21, 1890-July 20, 1968
Niles Daily Star, Monday, July 22, 1968, page 12, col. 3, microfilm Niles District Library
Thornton founder dies Saturday at Pawating
Leo L. Thornton, 77, of 322 Parkway, founder of the Thornton Electric Co. in Niles, died at 5:10 pm. Saturday at Pawating Hospital after a long illness.
Mr. Thornton was a member of the Niles Lions Club and the St. Joseph Valley No. 4 F&AM.
Mr. Thornton was born Sept. 21, 1890 in Deckerville, Mich. He came to Niles from Northern Michigan and had lived here for 57 years.
His survivors include his wife, Anna, four sons, Ward, Lee, Gerald, and Jack, all of Niels; and one daughter, Mrs. James (Nancy) Evans of Twin Falls, Idaho; 15 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; one brother, Kenneth Thornton of Traverse City and one sister, Mrs. Jewel Ritchie of San Carlo, Calif.
Funeral services will be held in the Pifer Funeral Home at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Officiating will be Rev. Ray Cunningham of the First Baptist church. Burial will be in the Silverbrook Cemetery, where a Masonic committal service will be conducted.
Friends may call at the funeral home.