Verna Lou Thornton Payton, 83 of Barboursville met her Jesus face to face on December 1, 2021, at St. Mary’s Medical Center. She was born Oct. 28, 1938 on Central Avenue in Barboursville to the late Malcolm Thornton and Myrtle Tinsley Thornton. After graduating from Barboursville High School in 1956, she married her sweetheart, Gerald Lee Payton. They recently celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary. You could always find Verna quietly serving her family. She loved and cared for them well. Proverbs 31:28-29 Her children rise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her. Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all! She was preceded in death by one son, Daniel “Danny” Payton: one sister, Brenda McKinney and an infant sister. She is survived by her husband, Gerald Lee Payton, her children and their spouses, Connie and Donald Robinson of Huntington, Joyce and Kim Cooper of Milton, Malinda and Ed Ray of Ona, Ricky and Rachel Payton of Culloden, WV; grandchildren, Nicholas Robinson (Kelsey), Brandon Robinson (Amanda), Kelsi Miller (Adam), Colin Cooper, Jeremy Ross, Katie Ross, Jodi Holcomb (Shannon), Chad Ray (Brooke), Hunter Payton, Maya McClung (Matthew), Emma Smith, and Heather Templeton; and seven great-grandchildren. Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday December 3, 2021at Wallace Funeral Home, Barboursville. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, December 4, 2021, at Wallace Funeral Home and Chapel, Barboursville, by Pastor Greg Lunsford. Burial will be in Oaklawn Memorial Park, Huntington. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.timeformemory.com/wallace.
