Roberta Strickland Thorne was born on November 11, 1921 and died at her residence on February 6, 2015 at the age of 93.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 AM on Monday, February 9, 2015 at Grace United Baptist Church near Decatur, MS with Bro. Gary Felton and Bro. Robert Rowzee officiating. Interment will follow in the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be held Sunday, February 8, 2015 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM at Newton County Funeral Home - South in Newton, MS.

Mrs. Thorne was a 1936 graduate of Linwood Grammar School and a 1940 graduate of Stamper-Stratton High School. During World War II she worked at a factory in Union, MS making army jackets. After World War II she worked at the General Electric Factory in Jackson, MS.
Roberta married Hancel Harvey Thorne in Jackson on September 13, 1947 and they were married until Mr. Thorne's death on October 3, 2013.

In 1951 Roberta and Hancel bought a farm near Hickory and they both lived there until their deaths.
Mrs. Thorne worked at a shirt factory in Decatur for many of those years. Mrs. Thorne will be remembered as a loyal member of the Baptist Church and a loving wife and mother. She was the last surviving child of Lawrence Everett and Inda Comans Strickland.

She is survived by two sons: Gary Thorne and wife Brenda and Ronald Hancel Thorne and wife Ana Rocio; three grandchildren, Jonathan Mark Thorne, David Matthew Thorne and wife Danae, and Ana Maria Thorne; one great-granddaughter, Katelynn Thorne, a special caregiver and friend, Lynn Wright, and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Hancel Harvey Thorne; six brothers, Bruce, Hugh Darl, Larn, Tim, Tom, and L.V.; two sisters, Winnie and Zexa.

Pallbearers will be Gerald Matlock, J. R. Addy, Ellis "Budgie" Acord, Ronnie Pickett, David Airhart and Robby Brown. Honorary pallbearers will be her nephews.