Orville H. Thornall, 90
NEW MARLBOROUGH — Orville Hamilton Thornall, 90, of Peter Menaker Road died Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008, at Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington.
Born in Metuchen, N.J., on June 19, 1918, son of William Ray and Daisy Hamilton Pyatt Campbell Thornall, he graduated from schools in New Jersey. He resided in California for many years and moved to New Marlborough to live with his daughter, Sharon Kay Powell, in 2005.
A Navy veteran of World War II, he enlisted on April 17, 1944, and was honorably discharged on April 9, 1946. He received the American theater and the World War II Victory Medals.
Mr. Thornall worked as a district manager for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in California for 34 years before retiring in 1980.
He enjoyed hunting, fishing and golfing. He especially enjoyed traveling.
Active in the community, he served on the Mountain View, Calif., Planning Commission from 1962 to 1969 and was a councilman from 1968 to 1969. He also was president of the Rotary Club there. He moved to Bakersfield, Calif., where he was active in the Boy Scouts, United Way and Chamber of Commerce. He was president of the Better Business Bureau and the Bakersfield Rotary Club. He also was a member of Sons in Retirement 163 in Bakersfield as well as a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, having been an amateur radio operator for 60 years. He was a member of Mount Zion Masonic Lodge 135 in Metuchen.
His wife of 47 years, the former Barbara Jean Rentfrow, died on May 16, 1993.
His first wife, the former Charlotte Fielding, is deceased.
Besides his daughter and her husband, Sherman Powell, he leaves a son, Jay Thornall and his wife, Pam Macus, of Port Angeles, Wash.; two grandchildren, Jody Anderson and her husband, Glen, of Westfield and Michael Powell and his wife, June, of Housatonic, and six great-grandchildren, McKenna, Cam, Meredith and Noel Powell, and Amy and Kristen Anderson.
He was also predeceased by his brothers William Roy Thornall and Jay Worthington Thornall.
FUNERAL NOTICE â€' Funeral services celebrating the life of Orville H. Thornall will be conducted on Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, at 10 from Finnerty and Stevens Funeral Home by the Rev. Charles VanAusdall, pastor of First Congregational Church in Great Barrington.
There will be no calling hours.
Those who wish may make memorial contributions to Fairview Hospital through the funeral home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. Remembrances, memories and reflections may be sent to the family through www.finnertyandstevens.com.