Longtime Baptist minister in Chesterfield dies

A longtime Chesterfield County Baptist pastor who was vacationing with his family died Wednesday on the Outer Banks.

The Rev. Edwin Clayton Thornton III, 62, senior pastor of Tomahawk Baptist Church in Chesterfield since May 1975, died after being pulled from the surf at Southern Shores, N.C., authorities said. Details were not immediately available.

Mr. Thornton was a 1969 graduate of the University of Richmond. He earned a master of divinity degree in 1972 at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y.

"He was so easygoing," said Sarah Cosby, administrative assistant at Tomahawk Baptist. "He was so good with people, especially the very, very young and the very old."

For the past 25 years, Mr. Thornton, who enjoyed running as exercise as well as bicycling, had been a volunteer cross country and track coach in the Chesterfield school system, most recently at Cosby High School, but also at Swift Creek Middle School and Clover Hill and Monacan high schools, Cosby said.

"He had a terrific impact on young people, not only in church but throughout the community. I don't think we'll ever know how many lives he touched," Cosby said.

Survivors include his wife, Astra Swingle Thornton; two sons, Kevin Daniel Thornton of Midlothian and Andrew Thornton of Chesterfield; his mother, Eleanor Thornton of Midlothian; two brothers, William Thornton and James Thornton; a sister, Kathy Beery of Harrisonburg; and three grandchildren.

A funeral will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at Tomahawk Baptist Church, 12920 Hull Street Road. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Contact Ellen Robertson (804) 649-6115 or .