A funeral service for Roy Lavern Thornburgh, age 91, will be at 10:00 AM Thursday, June 10, 2010, at Anderson-Burris Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. John McLemore, Rev. Don Johnson, and Rev. Dan O’Daniel officiating.  Private family burial will be in Karoma Cemetery near Goltry.

            Vern was born to Ivan Wesley and Wilma (Ackley) Thornburgh on December 5, 1918, in Goltry, and died Monday, June 7, 2010, in Enid.

             He was raised by aunts and uncles from the age of five, until graduating from Jet High School in 1936.  After graduation he attended Tonkawa College.  He began hauling grain for William Metcalf, and on July 28, 1940, he married Clara Berniece Metcalf.  They farmed and ranched on the Thornburgh and Metcalf homesteads near Jet for 34 years, which was the joy of his life.    In 1974 they moved to Enid where he worked for American Electric for 15 years and built apartments for Larry Newman.  Vern later worked at, Keithly’s Nursery, Fred’s Tree Farm, and then Plants A'Plenty until he was 88 years old.  Vern volunteered for St. Mary’s for 5 years.  He was a member of Jet Christian Church from 1943 – 74, where he served as an elder.  Vern and Berniece then transferred their membership to Enid Central Christian Church.

             Vern is survived by two daughters, Christie Jackson (Tim) of Portland, Oregon and Cathie Whipkey (Harold) of Higgins, Texas; son Patrick Thornburgh (Joyce) of Helena; ten grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren; two great, great grandchildren; five sisters, Helen Davenport, Betty Talley, Patsy Talley, Wilma Bishop, and Billie Burns, all of Bentonville, Arkansas.                    

             He was preceded in death by his wife Berniece (June 21, 2007), four brothers, Wayne and Ivan Wesley Thornburgh, Adrian and Jim Talley, and sister Jean Benson.

             In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Central Christian Church Caregivers.