UNION: Services for Kinoth Thornton will be held at 4:00 p.m., Sunday, July 16, 2023 at Milling Funeral Home Chapel of Union.

Visitation will be held from 2:30-4:00 p.m. at Milling Funeral Home of Union. Burial will be held at Neshoba Baptist Church. Bro. Byron Howell and Bro. Chris Shelton will be officiating.

Kinoth Thornton, age 97, died on July 14th.  He was born to Henry and Mary Eula Milling Thornton in Newton County. He was preceded in death by his parents and three siblings: Audrey Ricks, Caron Thornton, and Grace Gilmore. He is survived by his wife of seventy years, Ella Mae Thornton: his sister Frances Caffey: children Michelle Killebrew (Ronnie), Kinny Thornton (Yvonne), Tommy Thornton (Melanie); grandchildren Krissy Lepard (Lin), Hannah Killebrew, Drew Thornton (Sara), Noah Killebrew, Colton Thornton, Oliver Gray, and Henry Thornton; and five great grandchildren.

Kinoth graduated from Conehatta High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1945-1947 during which time he served as an aide to General McArthur both in the United States and Japan. Later, he graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in engineering technology. For ten years he worked as an engineer at Johns-Manville in Natchez and returned to Philadelphia in 1962 to help establish a local division and Emmerson, which was U.S. Motors. He continued his career there until retirement in 1993.

Kinoth was a deacon and member of Neshoba Baptist Church in Neshoba, Mississippi, and he was also a Gideon. After retiring, though he studied German, Portuguese, and French, Kinoth excelled in Spanish in order to accompany multiple mission groups to Central and South America, sometimes as an interpreter.

Pallbearers: Drew Thornton, Colton Thornton, Henry Thornton, Reed Lepard, Oliver Gray, Cade Adkins, Noah Killbrew, and Braylen Adkins.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations can be made to The Gideons International, Newton County Gideons, P.O. Box 297 Newton, MS 39345.

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