Katherine "Kate" Emma Thornhill

Katherine “Kate” Emma Thornhill, daughter of the late Leon and Elizabeth (Fenskie) Peltzer, was born December 13, 1916, in Hoskins, Nebraska, and passed away June 19, 2019, surrounded by famiy. She was 102 years, 6 months, and 6 days of age.

Kate grew up in Nebraska but moved to Mountain Grove, Missouri, during her senior year of high school. Kate graduated with the Mountain Grove High School class of 1935. Her future husband’s sister was in her class and she introduced Kate to Thomas Ervin Thornhill. They were married and twelve children were born to this union.

Shortly after they married, Tom and Kate moved to California where their first five children were born. They lost their baby twin girls, Verna Jean and Berna Dean, while living in California. In 1942, they moved back to Mountain Grove, Missouri, where they began dairy farming. Kate was a very hard worker and was a strong woman. She could work as hard as any man and had a strong hand shake to prove it.

Kate was famous for her cinnamon rolls. It was told that her cinnamon rolls were talked about clear over in the Holy Land. She was a very caring person and enjoyed sending cards to others for their birthdays or “just because”. She was a homemaker for her family and was also a caregiver for the elderly in her later years. She greatly enjoyed her church, Dawson Assembly of God. Her church family was a big part of her life. She also enjoyed watching all of her grandkids and great-grandkids play sports; she was always ready to go.

Besides her parents and her twin girls, Verna Jean and Berna Dean, Kate was preceded in death by her husband, Tom, in 1971, four sons, Larry, Bobby, Lonnie, and Junior Thornhill, two other daughters, Coral Lee Brown and Sherry Collins, two brothers, four sisters, and by two granddaughters, Tammy Showalter and Tracy Hicks.

She is survived by four daughters, Gail Hicks of Mountain Grove, Missouri, Karen Robertson and her husband, Charles, of Nashville, Arkansas, Kay Stigall, and Debbie Nelson and her husband, Roger, all of Mountain Grove, Missouri, one sister, Lila Profit of Superior, Wisconsin, twenty-four grandchildren, forty-five great-grandchildren, several great-great-grandchildren, and many, many other relatives, neighbors, and friends who will dearly miss her.