Linda Lesley " Lindy Lou " Thornton (25 Dec 1952 - 17 Jul 2021)

In loving memory of Linda Lesley " Lindy Lou " Thornton who sadly passed away on 17th July 2021
Linda devoted her life to helping others, never had a bad word to say about anyone and always had a shoulder or an ear to lend to those that needed it.
A wife to Keith 2 times over, a sister to 3, a mother to 4 and grandmother to 6, plus her special person Ryan, whom she loved deeply and had a very special relationship with She always found time to share her love with everyone.

Linda had a religious interest from a very early age and she used to take her children Steven Angela and Sharon to their local church St Gabriel's in pitsea regularly for their family services. Unfortunately the church stopped these and it became awkward for Linda to maintain church activities due to child care. Having said that every year the family still gathered for the christingle service which carried on into their move onto canvey Island in the late 1980s.

On Christmas eve 2010, Linda attended the christingle service at ST Nicholas Church with her Husband and Ryan, this was her Christmas treat to herself, which was followed by the midnight Mass leading her to into her Birthday morning on Christmas day.  What was it that led to her commitment to Christianity and the Church ?. In her own words she said to father David "Something clicked " and it just felt like the words spoken were directed at her and that everyone was looking at her. Accepting this Linda decided to get her faith confirmed which was accomplished on the 13th feb 2011 and confirmed by Bishop Stephen Cotterell. During this time Linda met with lots of new people and made many life long friends including Nicky, Vicky, Carol , Sue and many others.

Seeking further answers to so many questions; in 2014, Linda took a course in Christian studies, this took her 2 years to complete and celebrated with her graduation at Chelmsford cathedral  on 13th July 2016, with Father David and surrounded by all her new found friends,

2016 also saw Linda join a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,  visiting places such as Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem and many other religiously significant sites, as a result of this, 2016 was a very religiously fulfilling year for her.

Lindas' belief was so strong and it was described that she had an "Unshakeable faith and an unequivocal belief".

As well as having a huge family Linda had many hobbies and interests of which included a love of plants and flowers. Linda also reached out to Tai-Chi for strength of body and mind, together with line dancing which she really enjoyed and where many new friendships were made.  On a footnote Linda also strived to teach her children knitting which was something handed down by her mum and possibly further back too.

A strong attachment to lego and saw very many models being built which was very therapeutic and included Tower bridge, Big Ben, Taj Mahal, Ghostbusters headquarters and Ninjago Docks.

A huge fan of the great outdoors and yet even though recently confined to a wheelchair enjoyed many trips to the seafront, come rain or snow whether for a paddle ice cream or a cold drink. Every opportunity was seized without a hesitation.

If there was ever any spare time in Linda's life then this would have been spent holidaying. Linda has spent time in places such as Cornwall, one of her favourites (Visited several times) all the way up to Scotland and places in between like the lake district. Nothing ever held Linda down as a wife a mother a sister or as a grandma Linda always had so much enthusiasm energy and a complete dedication to enjoy life to the fullest and it is on this note rhat we say  May you Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory

Amen

With love from your Keith, Steven, Angela, Sharon, Michael and Ryan

The Order of service can be found here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lk3yg1dm7yteyzv/Thornton%2C%20Linda%20%28CAN%20Friday%206th%20Aug%2021%29%20LG.pdf?dl=0

For those who are unable to attend the service and watch it streamed from the church