Shirley Miller Thornley

Ecclesiastes 7.2-4
The day of death is better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a funeral than to a party. We all must die, and everyone living should think about this. Sorrow is better than laughter, and sadness has a good influence on you. A wise person thinks about death, but a fool thinks only about having a good time.

Romans 8.38
For I am sure that neither death nor life.. . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Psalm 116.15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

On “Black Friday” November 24, 2023 at 4.24pm Shirley Ann Miller Thornley, 84, left her body when Jesus took her by the hand and led her to The Promised Land from her Asheville NC home called “The Shire.”

Shirley was born on October 25. 1939 in Historic Georgetown located on the coast of South Carolina where she lived with her late husband Edward E Thornley until Jesus dropped by to pick him up on November 23, 2013. She had lived in Georgetown County her entire life until she officially moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 2015 to live with her son Colin P Thornley.

Shirley attended Winyah High School and shortly thereafter began her long career working her way up in retail. She had been working at Wood”s Department Store on Front Street when she was hired by Edward’s Department Store just across the street. After spending several years there she began working at the Belk store back across the same street. After 25 years with Belk she retired in 1998.

She was raised by her parents S. Andrew and Ruth Miller in church. When Shirley was a child her family moved from Mt Pisgah Baptist Church to be part of the brand new Graves Baptist Church at Graves Station in Georgetown where father built the original church building. Shirley played piano and led the church choir with her crystal clear beautiful soprano voice. She often presented special solos while sitting at her piano. Aside from traditional hymns and inspirational gospel songs she introduced the church to hymns recorded by her favorite gospel singer, Elvis Presley. Shirley also enjoyed country music primarily before the Nashville Sound displaced pure country music.

Few people were aware that Shirley loved to shag dance to beach music. She was known by her church family and friends as a cake baker and low country cook extraordinaire. Shirley loved to host wholesome parties in her home. Christmas magic, it seemed, was invented by Shirley. She loved to very tastefully decorate for Christmas. Of course she loved celebrating her Lord Jesus’s birth, resurrection and weekly worship services. She and Ed served faithfully in the church raising their two boys, Colin & Andy to enjoy the Bible and know countless hymns by heart. No wonder they both ended up in full-time Christian ministry!

Shirley and Ed loved to take modest vacation trips as much as their meager combined salaries would allow to the mountains, beaches and historical sites within reasonable distances stretching from Florida to Washington DC and west as far as St Louis. Once they retired, they purchased a used RV and traveled across the USA in various excursions. Shirley even accompanied the youth group from her church Grace Community Church in Mills River NC to London where she served as their cook with a team of youth leaders. At the end of the trip she and Colin traveled further and she returned to the States from Ireland. Shirley and Ed took a cruise in the Caribbean though she notoriously disliked boats.

She loved her cats Bobbie & Baby, Bible reading, visiting and collecting lighthouses, breads(she insisted nothing was better than bread), sunflowers (all flowers really), creating flower arrangements, plants (yellow roses, sunflowers, calla lilies, azaleas, gladiolus, blue irises,Christmas cactus, etc) traveling, singing(hymns, worship songs, old spirituals,etc), gift-giving, seasons, collecting small villages, seafood, Belkie Bears, reading good magazines, visiting sick and homebound people, driving, and earthy colors, especially yellows. Shirley was a southern low country lady in every way with a demure fashion sense. She loved the fall, winter and spring but this hot-natured woman preferred cool air-conditioning unless, of course, laying out on the beach.

Practical, gentle, kind, loving, caring, quiet, unassuming, non judgemental, strong willed, faithful, reliable, common sense, even tempered, wise, keen southern lady had a firm sense of right and wrong especially for herself. Oh how she loves Jesus and His Word! She faithfully had her morning devotions with a quiet cup of coffee. She said her favorite cup of coffee was the one where no one talked to her.

Shirley was preceded in 2013 by her Husband of 53 years Edward Ernest Thornley, grandmother Annie Goude, parents Stephen Andrew Sr and Ruth Goude Miller, and her sister Barbara.

She leaves behind (for now) her sons Colin Patrick Thornley and Andrew Leroy Thornley; her daughter-in-love of 33 years, Leigh Thornley (Andy’s wife); her grandson Jesse (Colin’s son) and granddaughters (Andy’s daughters) Sarah, Abigail and Rachel and great-grandchildren, Audrey (Colin’s granddaughter), and Evie, Grayson and Amelia (Andy’s grandchildren).

Colin received family & friends at Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian in Arden on Tuesday November 28th from 5-7pm. Our South Carolina family and friends will be received at Dial-Murray Funeral Home in Moncks Corner SC on Saturday, December 2nd from noon until 2pm with the service being held at 2:00 at the Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Thornley Cemetery (not far from the funeral home).

Though Shirley loves Sunflowers, yellow roses and all flowers, it was Shirley’s wish, in the event of her passing, that, if preferred, in lieu of flowers, that any tax deductible donation in her memory be given to SERGE, “for Colin P Thornley’s Missionary support” https://give.serge.org/donate/colin-p-thornley or your local church.