Marion Thornton Sterling

Marion Thornton Sterling June 8, 1913 November 29, 2008 Marion Thornton Sterling passed away Saturday, November 29, 2008. Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 3, at First Baptist Church of Waco, with Dr. Scott Walker officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, December 2, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey. Thornton was born in Waco, Texas in 1913 to Marion and Ruth Sterling. He graduated from Waco High in 1930 and from Baylor in 1936 with a BBA in Finance. Pat Neff gave him a job in the Baylor Bookstore after his mother asked for financial help for her son. He played center field on Coach Morley Jennings' Baylor baseball team and was a 3-time letter winner. Thornton also played center field on the state champion Waco American Legion team in 1929. Thornton lived in Washington, D. C. from 1942 until 1974. He joined the U. S. Navy on May 18, 1942, and was commissioned an Ensign; he left active duty in 1945. He worked in the Ordinance Planning Division of Ordinance Bureau in the Department of the Navy. On April 13, 1945, he was in his USN uniform standing at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street when the horse-drawn caisson carrying the body of President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed by on its way to the White House. He stood at attention and saluted the deceased Commander-in-Chief. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander with 20 years in the USN Reserves and then worked at the Internal Revenue Service for 26 years as a tax accountant. Since 1983 Thornton saw two hundred and thirty-two consecutive Baylor football games. He also attended the Olympics: Mexico City in 1968, Montreal in 1972, Munich in l976 and Los Angeles in 1984. He didn't attend the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because of a USA boycott. He has always been a loyal Washington Redskin fan. The Thornton Sterling Player of the Year Award is presented annually to a Baylor baseball player who shows the best consistent performance and effort on the field and is an outstanding representative for the baseball team. Thornton played in a Baylor Old Timers game at age 86. He funded the visitors' dugout at the new Baylor Ballpark in 2001. He was selected for the Coach Grant Teaff Special Fan of the Year in 1985 and the Judge Bill Logue Fan of the Year in 2002. In 1994 at age 81, he married Janette Greene from Washington, D. C. They had been friends since 1942. She was born in November 30, 1915; died January 10, 2008, and was buried in Silver Springs, MD. Thornton served as deacon at both Washington D. C. First Baptist Church and Waco First Baptist Church. At First, Washington, D. C., he was chairman of the Nominating Committee and the Athletic Committee and also treasurer. He is survived by a brother, Dawson Sterling of Houston; nieces Evelyn Ruth Renouf of Plano, TX; Claire Martin and husband, Richard, of Richardson, TX; a great niece, Stacy Renouf; and great nephews, Christopher Martin and Eric Martin. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com.