Rachel Estella Barnes Thornton

October 25, 2013

Rachel Estella Barnes Thornton, 97, passed away Friday, October 25, 2013, at Rose Manor in Haleyville.

Mrs. Thornton was a lifelong resident of Franklin County and a member of Russellville First Baptist Church. She was the oldest of 10 children.

The funeral service will be Wednesday, October 30, 2013, at 11 a.m., at Pinkard Funeral Home Chapel in Russellville, with burial in Tharptown Cemetery. Officiating will be Clinton Busler, Randy Nichols, and Stratton Barnes. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday from 10a.m. until

11 a.m.

She is survived by her children, Annette Sturdivant and husband, Billy, Brenda Oliver and husband, Troy, Kathy Gray and husband, Steve; daughter-in-law, Sandra Thornton; brother, Stratt Barnes; 11 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; sisters-in-law, Mary Willie Thornton Hester, and husband, Clanton, Kathy Barnes, Bernice Barnes; brother-in-law, Cecil Thornton; a host of nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be grandsons and relatives.

She was preceded in death by parents, John Howard and Laura Malone Barnes; husband, Hubert John Thornton; children, Paul Hugh Thornton, Bobby Jo Thornton; brothers and sisters, Zollie Barnes, Arland Jo Barnes, Retha Barnes Weems, Marie Barnes Porter, Jack Barnes, Wayne Lee Barnes, Bennie Barnes, and Patsy Barnes.