Dr. Thornton is a double-Board Certified specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine. She has risen to the academic rank of Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a member of the Association of Women Surgeons, a life member of The New York Academy of Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Surgeons.
Her biography is presently in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. She has been listed in The Best Doctors -- New York Metro Area. She was also listed in New York Magazine as one of the Top Ten Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists in New York City.
Doctor Thornton was the first black woman in the United States to be Board-certified in High-Risk obstetrics and to be accepted into The New York Obstetrical Society.
In 1969, Dr. Thornton was the first contestant of color to appear on the original Jeopardy! with Art Fleming as host.
Dr. Thornton is the national best-selling author of the h
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YvoNne Thornton OBITUARY
YVONNE THORTON Yvonne Doann Thornton, age 83, passed away April 19, 2019 in Chico following a valiant fight with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Yvonne was born October 17, 1935 to Leroy and LaNell Terry in Nebraska. The family moved to Santa Ana, California and then to Gridley, where Yvonne graduated from Gridley High School and then attended Yuba College. While attending Gridley High School Yvonne worked at the Palm Drive-Inn in Gridley and won the Butte County Waitress Popularity contest. Yvonne married Orvis Thornton in 1955 in Gridley. They lived in Altus, Oklahoma for two years while Orvis served in the Air Force. During that time they had their first child, Mark in 1956. In 1957 they moved to Biggs where they owned and operated Thornton’s Union 76 and Yvonne worked at the Biggs Post Office as the rural route carrier. They had two more children, Julie and Jill. The family made their home in Biggs until Yvonne retired from the post office after 33 years and they sold their business after 42 years. In 1994 they built their dream ho
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The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story
August 18, 2022
An absolute minefield of a book.
I'm still torn on how exactly I might express whether I "liked" it or not.
I should have known just what I was getting into when I was #triggered by the first sentence of the first page, "You kids are black. You're dark-skinned and ugly."
To put things into context, I'm a black American woman. I did not grow up with my biological father and when I was young, my stepfather spent years in prison. My mother worked and I went to public schools. I'm an "elder" millennial. I am not light-skinned.
I considered the time period in which this story unfolded. I also considered that Mr. and Mrs. Thornton were from the Silent Generation, while Dr. Yvonne Thornton and her sisters were Baby Boomers. That being said the overall #cringe factor nearly blew my pissitivity meter to pieces, on more than one occasion.
As the story draws to a close and the sisters have reminisced about their father's teachings, on page 255, Dr. Thornton exclaims "We were six women. Six