U.S. Veteran. Burial Date: November 23, 2020. Richard “Rick” John Thornton died Nov. 16, 2020. He was born in St. Louis city to Richard and Maxine Thornton. Rick served in the United States Army from 1972 to 1975 and was in the 101st Airborne Division. He jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. He served out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Schweinfurt, Germany. Later he graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in hotel management and business administration. He was married to and survived by his wife, Andi Thornton. He is also survived by sons Trevor (Dawn and Ryker); Severin (Kaitlin, Nola and Ellie); and as he would say his son, Cody (Jessica, Cameron and Aurora); and son Zach. He is also survived by his adopted family, Jamie, Jackie (JJ, Nellie and Jolie); sister Elaine (Tod, Christy, Steven, Josh, Dalton and Rachel); brother Mike (Aaron, Jessica, Chelsea and Zach); family by marriage, Andrew and Sheri Morgan; Bud and Sheri Whitman, Richie (Derek, Misty, Will, Nate, Faith, Carrie and Cole) (Heather, Briella and Lynley); Aunt Laura and Mike (Dana and Kelly and family); Aunt Pam and Dan (Nathan, Tim and Shawn and family); cousins, Robert and Family and Michelle and family. And any other family that may have been missed. Rick was larger than life in his joy and love for his family. Those that loved him knew that he always put family first. He was a devout Christian and took Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Rick was a wonderful father but when it came to his grandchildren, the sky was the limit to entertaining them, loving them and bringing them joy. He loved to golf, fish and do many cannonballs in the pool. He loved to celebrate the Fourth of July with his “Hammer time” of fireworks. He loved Jesus and naps. He loved life and to make those around him happy. He was always watching a baseball or football game on his downtime. Every day, Rick will be missed by those who loved him. We have so much comfort knowing Jesus loved Rick so much to take him home. The funeral was held at Kutis South County Chapel, 5255 Lemay Ferry Road, Monday, Nov. 23.. Interment followed at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. A visitation was held Sunday, Nov. 22.