Columbus Post

Columbus Post Staff Report

She was born to write. She wrote poetry. She wrote news stories for magazines and newspapers. She was a photographer. She was an editor. She loved God. She loved her husband and family. She loved her community and spent her life serving it. Columbus Post City Editor Pamela Ann Glason Thornton (Ms. Pam) completed her journey in life on Saturday. She was 45.

In life it is difficult to say goodbye to a spouse, loved one or friend. That is why for the staff of the Columbus Post newspaper and many people across Central Ohio, saying goodbye to Ms. Pam will be so difficult.

“Ms. Pam was not only our city editor she was also the conscience of the newspaper for so many years,” said Alan W. Sorter, president and CEO of Freedom Media Group of Ohio, Inc., owners of the Columbus Post. “It’s hard to imagine her not being there everyday to help keep us focused on our responsibilities as a newspaper and as individuals to our community. She was my employee and my friend.”

Ms. Pam was a talented journalist and photographer – in earlier years working for the Columbus Call & Post under Amos Lynch and continuing her journalism journey when Lynch launched the Columbus Post in 1995.

“She came directly from campus (Ohio University) to my office at the Call and Post,” Lynch recalls. “With camera and notepad in hand, she could quietly and professionally cover a story.”

In 2003 when Freedom Media Group of Ohio purchased the newspaper from Lynch, Ms. Pam stayed on as a reporter and photographer. She was promoted to city editor of the Columbus Post in November 2007.

Ms. Pam accomplished a lot in life. She was dedicated to her husband and soul mate, Herman (Ray) Thornton, manager of operations for the Columbus Post. The two met at the newspaper in 1991 and married in 1994.

A native of Columbus, Ms. Pam grew up on the west side in the Hilltop area. She attended Highland Avenue E.S., Hiltonia M.S. and graduated from Columbus West High School with a Diploma of Distinction in June 1982. She also took vocational classes at Fort Hayes Career Center and studied Radio/TV Broadcasting. Ms. Pam continued her education and in March 1987, she graduated from the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism/Broadcast News (BSJ).

For all of the awards she won as a journalist and photographer and her many educational achievements, Ms. Pam was most proud that she was a “Child of God.” She joined and served at Macedonia Baptist Church in Columbus where she was baptized in 1976.

Yet still, perhaps Ms. Pam’s greatest achievements took place on a daily basis as she consistently rose above her own health challenges to inform “the people,” tell the story of those who might not otherwise be heard and to help those individuals most in need.

She was a journalistic warrior who believed that it was imperative to share stories that primarily occurred in the African-American community because it is in this community that such stories would get lost or go untold, if not for the existence of the Black Press.

The ultimate volunteer and a great woman, Ms. Pam will be greatly missed by her colleagues, loved ones and all those who knew her.

Rest well, Ms. Pam. You have reached your place of peace, but for us you simply are gone too soon.

Viewing: Friday, October 30, 2009,
1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Gary Memorial Chapel,
867 S. James Rd., Columbus, OH

Funeral Service: Saturday,
October 31, 2009
Wake at 10:00 a.m.; Service at 11:00 a.m.
Macedonia Baptist Church
492 Oakwood Ave., Columbus, OH