2014 Thornton Family Reunion

From as far away as Oregon and Florida, family members gathered at White's Chapel, just south of Plano, Kentucky, to interact with Jesse Benton and Susie Cooper Thornton descendants and their families. This Labor Day weekend tradition has persisted for four decades.  The last member of the first generation of Thornton children, Winnie Carene Thornton Copas, passed away on January 2, 2014.

Danijela Lewis and daughter Evelina are entertained by grandfather, Bill Lewis, husband of Diane Thornton Lewis.

Danny White, son of Evelyn Daniel White and grandson of Eva Thornton, with sons.

Bill, Damon, Carter, and Jansen Lewis (husband, son, and grandchildren of Diane Thornton Lewis)

White's Chapel, which has frequently hosted Thornton Family Reunions over the last 40 years.

Bill Lewis and Kitty Baker Sparks, widow of Jesse Willard Thornton.

Tom Reagan, son of Pauline Thornton, chatting with Kitty Baker Sparks.

Nora Clay Thornton

Nora Clay was born March 9, 1913, to Jesse Benton and Mary Susan Cooper Thornton. She grew up in the Hickory Flats area of Warren County, KY, catching the eye of a local farm laborer who lived on a farm a few houses down. She married William Houston Jones in 1932, and, although they didn't have children of their own, they adopted two: Roger Dale and Sue Gayle. Nora Clay died on July 12, 1993.












The Joneses at the old farm, on the road from Plano, KY, to Boyce.












Aerial view of the Jones farm.












Sue Gayle Jones married Mike Harston and had three children: Robert, Shannon, and Penny.


Picture from mid-1980s.















William Robert Harston.