News, Citizens Profile Vira M. Beavers Thornton, LaSalle Parish, La. Submitted by: Evelyn Windham ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Jena Times Olla - Tullos Signal, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La.; Oct.6, 1999 Citizen Profile Good Pine woman recalls the "hard times" in area She was born in Grant Parish, but the impact she has made in LaSalle Parish will be everlasting. Most of her life has been spent in he Trout area, and while you may not recognize her name, you most certainly recognize the church she helped start. Vira M. Thornton was born January 9, 1908, in the tiny community of Sandspur, around Fishcreek, approximately four miles from Pollock. She was born in her house, like most during that era, to a family of four brothers and three sisters. Today, she is the only child still living. Mrs. Thornton's father was Joseph Beavers and her mother was Nancy Allen Beavers. Mr. Beavers cut logs and worked in the logging woods, and his wife was a devoted mother and homemaker. While living in Sandspur, the family owned land that they farmed, raising everything from the food they ate to cotton they sold. The entire family helped on the farm, including Mrs. Thornton, who continued to pick cotton even after she'd married. She attended the Sandspur School from the first through part of the eighth grade, and then she helped the family until she got married. When she was 19 years old in 1927, she married George Edward Thornton, who was also from the Sandspur community area. They had known each other all of their lives, so the marriage was a natural transition. Mr. Thornton's parents died when he was very young, and during those days, most children without parents simply had to make it the best they could. Different families in the community would take Mr. Thornton in while he was growing up, even the Beavers took him into their home for some time. "He just kind of grew up on his own," Mrs. Thornton said, "he didn't really have anyone but he never felt sorry for himself...he was a great man." One night, one of Mrs. Thornton's brothers held a dance at his house, and it was there that Mr. Thornton asked Mrs. Thornton to marry him." "My brother moved everything out of his living room and had the dance. she said, "I was during this dance that George asked me to marry him...of course I told him, ‘yeah'." The couple married soon after the proposal and they lived with Mrs. Thornton's family for a while, until 1929, when they moved to Harrisonburg in Catahoula Parish. In 1930, while in Harrisonburg, the couple's first child was born, Opal Marie Anglin. By 1932, they had moved to the mill town of Trout and their second child, a boy, Robert Edward, was born. They would remain in Trout for the rest of their lives, and three more children would follow the first two: Betty Jo Edwards, Doris Evelyn Windham and Georgia Dale Owens. In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, everyone had it rough, and it was no different for the Thornton family. "When Edward was born in 1932, he almost died because we had no food," Mrs. Thornton said. "We were all hungry, but because Edward was a newborn, the lack of nutrition almost killed him." Mrs. Thornton said that her husband tried to keep the family going, but there was no work anywhere to be found. She said the family kept their garden, and without it they would have surely died. Georgia, Mrs. Thornton's youngest daughter, adds: "My mother was a great homemaker. She could make a dollar last a month." She also noted that no matter what events happened in the family's life, her parents were always positive. "No matter how bad it got, Mamma and Daddy stuck together," she said, "and they never let it show." Georgia remembers many things about growing up in the Thornton home, including how all the children at school thought the family was rich. "My mama, no matter what, would insist and make sure that us kids were clean," she said, "because of this, everybody at school though that we had lots of money." During the 1940s, Trout was a big mill town, and Mr. Thornton continued making his living working in the logging industry, eventually working for Denton Lumber Company in Trout. "During those days, Trout was a busy place," Mrs. Thornton said, "by the post office used to be a big commissary and a doctor's office. Nearly everyone worked for the lumber company and lived in houses owned by the lumber company and so did we." To say that Mrs. Thornton was a hard worker, is to put it mildly. While she kept up with five children, cooked, cleaned and did all the other motherly chores, she also washed and pressed clothes for other people in order to provide extra money for extra things for the kids. Georgia remembers that many days her mother would gather up all the children and go down to the creek and wash clothes for other people all day long just to get enough to get the children something extra for school. "She would was at the creek for other people, with the old wash boards, and hang the clothes in the woods to let them dry," Georgia said, "then she would starch and iron everything, including the pillow cases." Mrs. Thornton also made all the children's clothes, mostly from feed sacks and flour sacks. "Two sacks of feed would make a dress," Mrs. Thornton said, "George would bring home a sack of feed and after it was empty I'd start making the dress. When he went to get another sack of feed, I'd take a piece of the other sack with us and we'd match the pattern with another sack of feed and we'd buy that one to finish the dress." Living in Trout next to the railroad, meant a wide variety of people were constantly coming by. "We constantly had hobos coming to our house and mama would always give them something to eat," Georgia said, "they'd knock on the edge of the porch-they wouldn't come in-and mama would come out and give them something to eat. The word spread throughout the hobos and so we always had them stopping by." Georgia adds that this is one reason why she believes God has always taken care of her mother, because she has taken care of everyone else her entire life. Around 1943, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton started having a Bible study in their home. Mr. Thornton would teach a Sunday School class on the front porch of their home and Mrs. Thornton would teach another class in their bedroom. Before long, the attendance of the sessions grew to around 25 people. Mr. Thornton would play a french harp and guitar for the singing, and without them knowing it a church was born. They soon outgrew the Thornton home, so the group got a tent and Mr. Thornton sawed blocks of woods for everyone to sit on and services continued. The need for an actual church building was of great concern, so John Tarver and many volunteers, built a church building for the group who named the church, the Trout Church of Nazarene. John Tarver is the grandfather of Jena resident and evangelist Ronnie Tarver). Many years later, the congregation outgrew even this building, and the current Trout Church of Nazarene building was constructed. The old Trout church building was moved a few years ago near the flashing lights of Trout, and now houses Trinity Heights Baptist Church. Throughout the years there have been times when the church went down attendance wise, however the Thornton's faithfulness never wavered. They would hang on in their faith and trust in the Lord and today it is a thriving church in the LaSalle area. Mrs. Thornton remembers that many people would walk for miles every Sunday just to attend services. "There were families from Little Creek who would walk to church every Sunday," she said, "hardly anyone had automobiles, but everyone found a way to church." Mr. Thornton, who was working for the Denton Lumber company, had worked out an arrangement with the owner, Mr. Denton, and he would use the company work truck to go around and pick up people to take them to church. "It was just an old dirty work truck but George would fill that thing up every Sunday with people carrying them to church." Mrs. Thornton said. "One time we had a contest to see who could bring the most people to church and he won hands down." Georgia remembers many things about the early days of the Trout church, but one thing stands out above the rest. "Church was the most important thing in our family's life." Georgia said, "one of my most special memories is that mama's handkerchief would always be wet with tears on Sunday...that's special to me." Mrs. Thornton says that God has been really good to her during her life. "We have went through some bad and hard times, but I wouldn't change a thing," she said, "I would gladly do it all over again, serving God has its definite awards." Even at 91, Mrs. Thornton still reads and studies her Bible everyday. Even when this interviewer came to see her, she was found sitting in her chair reading her Bible. "The most important thing in my life is my God and my family," she said, "I'm thankful that God allowed me to keep my husband of as long as I kept him." Mr. Thornton died in 1980, after they'd been married for 52 years. Her advice to young mothers is to study God's Word and apply it to their lives. Perhaps you can understand what type of godly, Christian woman Vira Thornton is by the account of how whe handled one of the most tragic events in her life. Several years ago, Mrs. Thornton's oldest daughter and one of her granddaughters were murdered. When news came to the family, who had all gathered at Georgia's home, everyone was understandably upset and irate at the man who had taken the family members lives. "We were all very angry at this man who did this killing. All of us were very upset and Evelyn was talking to mama and explaining to her what had happened. She told her that Marie and Casey had been stabbed to death by this man who had also stabbed himself. Mama looked up at Evelyn and said,"'I hope he doesn't die before he gets right with God'". Evelyn commented later, "Only a Saint of God could have said that." One of the bits of advice she has always given to her children is simply "Trust and Obey the Lord." If there has ever been a person that has lived in this parish that exemplifies that statement, it is Vira Thornton. It is her dedication to her Lord, and the impact for Christ that she has made in this area for her faithfulness in following God in starting a church, that we salute this week's Citizen Profile, Vira Thornton. She will never know the true impact of her actions in this life until she meets her Savior in the next life.