Clyde Thornell, Marion High School Class of 1965, was a longtime educator at Marion High School who helped usher the Business Department (and his fellow educators) into the computer age. He has also provided vocational training for the community, and has been an active and essential community volunteer.
At Marion High School, Thornell was a starting point guard for the Giants boys basketball team. To this day, he is an ardent fan and follower of the Marion Giants, and he has volunteered as the scoreboard operator for home games at the Bill Green Arena for more than 50 years.
He continued his education at Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis), earning his Bachelor’s degree in 1969. While there he was the President of the Business Club and Vice President of his class in his senior year.
He returned to Marion and began teaching in the Marion High School Business Department in the fall of 1969, retiring in 2006.
In 1973 he earned a Master’s in Business Education with a Vocational Endorsement from Ball State University.
Thornell continued to serve at Marion High School for his entire 37 year teaching career, and he served as Chair of the Business Department for 23 years. He was instrumental in keeping the department up to date as technology changed rapidly, from manual typewriters to electric. Then from typewriters to computers, then to networks and systems that expanded computing functions and capacities. Not only did he lead in the transitions and equipment acquisitions, he also conducted training sessions for his fellow educators after school and in the summers to help them successfully use changing technology in their work.
Changing technology didn’t only affect the school, however. As the world around him grappled with the same changes, previously booming industrial businesses began to close in Marion. Thornell took on the additional role of vocational training for local adults, helping provide opportunities to workers who needed to update their skills for new job opportunities.
He also served as a Driver Education teacher for many years.
In 1985, Thornell was recognized as Teacher of the Year by Marion Community Schools. He also received the MHS Outstanding Educator award and the MHS Outstanding Alumni award. In 1991, he was recognized as the Indiana Outstanding Classroom Business Educator of the Year.
He served as Treasurer and Membership Chair for the Indiana Business Education Association for many years, and was an active member for many more.
Thornell’s service to his hometown has extended far beyond his role as a teacher.
He was a member of the Marion Exchange Club for 44 years, serving as President, Secretary, Treasurer, and newsletter editor at various times. He also served on several committees, including the Scholarship Committee, Youth of the Month Committee, which recognized local students for their achievements and good citizenship. He was honored as Exchangite of the Year on two different occasions. He also took an active role in the Pancake Day fundraiser, which helped raise funds for many local organizations.
Thornell has also been a member of the VIA Credit Union Board of Directors since 1993. His leadership on this board has included serving as the Secretary for four years, Vice Chair for 10 years, and Chair for 15 years.
He also served on the Board of the Grant County Sports Hall of Fame, and where he wrote biographies for inductees, which appear in the program for the annual banquet and on the engraved wall plaques displayed inside the Grant County Family YMCA (formerly the Memorial Coliseum, which the Marion Giants called home court for decades). He also has been instrumental in securing sponsors for the annual banquet, which enables the organization to continue to provide this special honor for the inductees.
His love of sports is centered around Grant County, but doesn’t stop there. He enjoys watching the New York Yankees, the Boston Celtics, the Golden State Warriors and the Indianapolis Colts. But most of all, he now enjoys watching his grandchildren participate in sports and school programs.
Clyde’s wife, Valerie, is a Marion High School graduate. Clyde has two grown children who are also MHS graduates, his son a graduate of 1997 and his daughter the Class of 1999. He has made it his mission to give back to their community, and he has truly made a positive impact on their hometown and thousands of people over his many years of service in many different ways.