Steve Thornton

Steven Scott Thornton, age 38, born August 14, 1970 died Monday, October 1. He is survived by his wife, his parents, a brother and his wife's parents. Steve had a BA degree in History and a Masters in Information Technology. He was a past member of the Los Alamos Ski Patrol and has been an avid participant in racing with the Southwest Super Truck Association here in Las Cruces . Interment will be in Springfield , Mo. A local memorial will be held at a later date. Donations to your favorite charity on Steve's behalf would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Wow we’re all approaching 38…..like Wendy said in her bio, how the hell did that happen? After leaving LAHS I wound up at NMSU and floundered around down here in Las Cruces not knowing what the hell I wanted to do with myself. Left with a BA in History and thought I wanted to teach until I did some sub work. I met my wife of 13 years this year in a class at NMSU and the rest has been a blur of motion. Anji is a classically trained voice and performance major. Upon graduation from state, she was accepted at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, and after moving her up there I wound up moving to Mooresville, NC, and a job with Penske Racing South in the fabrication shop. That led to a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UNC Charlotte with an emphasis in design and fabrication. I had a hand in building all of the Miller Genuine Draft cars driven by Rusty Wallace in the 94-95 NASCAR series. In August of 95 we came home and got married in Las Cruces with plans to stay here until I got an offer from Year One, Inc. to go to work in their R&D department. That led to a move to Atlanta, GA for a couple of years until the big city got to be too much and back to Las Cruces we came. This is one of the chassis jigs I designed and built for straightening out bent racecars.

I went to work at Ft. Bliss in El Paso as part of the US Army Operational Test Command at the Air Defense Artillery Test Directorate. Translated that means I was a staff engineer on the Patriot Missile System. In December of 2007 I was hired at White Sands Missile Range as a systems engineer/data analyst on the Future Combat Systems project for the Army. I am almost done with a second Masters in IT management and am working like hell to get this stuff developed so that our service members in Iraq will have all the advantages that we can give them.

           
Anji is the head of the music department at Bowie High School in El Paso, TX. She teaches voice, piano and organ, guitar, and her specialty, which is Mariachi music. She has played with Mariachi Cobre at the International Mariachi Conference here in Las Cruces for the last 8 years. If you have ever been to EPCOT and seen the mariachi band playing at the Mexican pavilion, you have seen Cobre. They are the superstars of the Mariachi world and I am proud to call them all friends. This is Anji with Randy Carrillo, the head of Mariachi Cobre.

Anji and I both got into running our own racing team about 6 years ago now. We have both run our Supertruck in the Southwest Supertruck Series, which travels between Las Cruces, El Paso, Albuquerque, Tularosa, & Tucson, AZ.

I have also been driving in the Renegade Sprint Car series as well.

I have some starts in the United States Late Model Association. A late model is just a couple of steps removed from a current Sprint Cup car.

2008 will see Anji doing all of the driving this year since I have to have shoulder surgery in March for a torn biceps tendon. Ah, the joys of approaching middle age. We have never gotten around to having kids ourselves but enjoy spoiling the hell out of my nephew and then giving him back to his parents.

We have the 3 Thornton eating machines, AKA Frankie, Zippy, & Molly.

I have to say that I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and I hope that the next 20 years are good for you all as well.

Take Care & God Bless,

 

Steve & Anji Thornton