Robyn Betty Thornton
Posted Mar 28, 2025 | 9:21 AM
Robyn Betty Thornton Oct. 12, 1939 – Feb. 24, 2025
Born in W. Wyalong, NSW, Australia, Robyn met her partner Laurie Payne in Sydney, Australia, and they came to BC together in 1966 after two years in California. They homesteaded in the mountains above Chase, starting their family together in 1968, and welcomed two sons and a daughter into the world.
A graduate from teacher’s college at Sydney University, she taught secondary school in Sydney, Australia, Ocean Falls, Salmon Arm, N. Kamloops, BC, and in an alternative school program in Lillooet. She worked at Native Friendship Centres in Lillooet and Kamloops before moving to Vernon in 1986, to work as a counsellor for the Ministry of Health until her retirement in 2004.
A lover of arts and culture, she was a beautiful soprano and long-time member of the Aura Chamber Choir taking part in many productions, and the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre Society, for which she volunteered and helped to fundraise to build their new facility in 1990. She was also an avid hiker, and member of the N. Okanagan Naturalist Club through which she made many lifelong friends. She loved traveling, as well as gardening, hiking, cross-country skiing, music, and swimming in Kal Lake.
She is pre-deceased by her first-born son Krishna (Lynne) and survived by her her son Dorian, daughter Alisoun, grandchildren Rowan and Cayenne, and her sister Jennifer (Graeme), her five children, and their children. Her Celebration of Life will be held at the Pleasant Valley Funeral Home teahouse on May 16, 2025. Her online memorial can be viewed at: www.pleasantvalleyfh.com
