She and her mother moved to Houston in 1937 where she met her husband of 78 years, Bill, at John Marshall Junior High School. They married in 1942, just weeks before he went to Navy Boot Camp in San Diego. At the age of 18, she traveled alone by train, cross country, following him until his ship deployed. After World War II, she worked in various positions to help support the family while Bill pursued college. Throughout his notable career, the “woman behind the man” played the supporting role that made his successes possible.
Iris worked in public schools as school secretary and ultimately as Executive Assistant to the Director of Special Education in Aldine I.S.D. She was a volunteer in the Memorial Hospital system, the area Chamber of Commerce, the board of her neighborhood civic association, and a greeter at Memorial Baptist Church, her church home for over 60 years. There she had the unofficial role of Grandmother to anyone needing one. She nurtured and mentored many over the years.
She was preceded in death by her husband, W. W. Thorne, Jr., her parents, her sisters Murel Cromwell, Gladys Haltom, Eunice Hyde and brother Percy Hoyt. She is survived by son Bill Thorne, III and wife Melissa, daughter Anita Stevens and husband Jim, eight grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren and multitudes of friends whose lives she touched.
