Meet Audrey Thorton! Audrey has been married to her husband, James, for 27 years. They met when he was a student at Gainesville High and she was a student at North Hall High. Together they have three wonderful children. Their daughter and son-in-law, Meg and Ran Thornton Williams, live in Atlanta and are enjoying careers with Chic-fil-A. Their son, Chandler, is an upcoming junior at UNG, studying film. They also have a mini-schnauzer named Abby and a guinea pig named Martha.
Audrey recently retired from her longtime teaching career at Enota Elementary. We want to thank her for spending time with us recently and telling us more about her life and love of Hall County.

Question: Please tell us about your current career. What do you love most about what you do?
Answer: “I am actually finishing up a career as a proud educator with Gainesville City Schools! During the last 16 years, I have taught 1st grade, 4th grade, been a gifted resource teacher, and served as gifted coordinator for our district. I have so much love for our school system and am proud of all that I was able to experience during my time with the district.”

Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
A: “Harvest, Recess, and 2Dog are my favorites because of the quality of foods they offer as well as the vibe of their spaces. I also can’t wait to try some of the new offerings coming to downtown soon.”

Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
A: “I’ve basically lived in Hall County my entire life other than years away for college and a couple of short job opportunities for my husband.”

Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
A: “After spending a good bit of time trying to isolate this question to one person, I’ve decided to go a different route. The most interesting people that I’ve met in our community are the people that I have been fortunate enough to spend the last 16 years with: my students and the families who support them. Since I was a gifted resource teacher, many times I was able to stay with my students throughout their time in elementary school. Outside of my family, I spent more time with those curious and beautiful beings than anyone else in my life. They asked questions too hard for me to answer without Google, they shared their dreams and ideas with me, and they taught me how to treat and accept people. If you want to feel good about things to come, find a room full of children and just sit and watch.”

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “I would travel back to Nuremberg, Germany. I love travel and experiencing different cultures and Nuremberg was a place where I instantly felt at home. My sister in law is from Nuremberg and my husband has traveled there numerous times for business so I never felt like a tourist and was able to experience the city like a local would.”

Q: What is one of your favorite movies?  TV shows?
A: “I’m going to stray from the question again because I’m much more of a reader than a watcher. My favorite books are ‘Cutting for Stone’ by Abraham Verghese and ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving. If I’m watching, lately it has been ‘Love on the Spectrum’ on Netflix. My favorite movie is ‘On Golden Pond’ because it reminds me of time spent with my grandparents.”

Q: What advice would you want to give or leave with people?
A: “My favorite advice comes from a blessing that I first heard shared by Stuart Higginbotham, our rector at Grace Episcopal Church, and it goes something like this: Life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who make this journey with us. So be swift to love, make haste to be kind, and go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
A: “The original Peeches restaurant. I can’t even remember the food but I remember how it felt to be there. I still want to know why they spelled it that way!”

Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
A: “I would love to meet and have lunch with Alice Walker. My book club will be reading ‘The Color Purple’ this next year so they would come along as well! We would pick up veggie lasagna and salad from 2Dog and take it to the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville because I can just picture an afternoon with her there.”

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community? And secondly, what is something you hope our community has or does in the future?
A: “There are so many things that make Gainesville unique but the thing I’m most proud of is our diversity. I have learned so much about different cultures and ethnicities by trusting and listening to people in our community. My hope is that we will continue to be open to these conversations and grow from them. Our children and our community are both worth it.”

Q: Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years?
A: “My husband and I have a new favorite pastime but don’t tell my children. We spend time talking about all the experiences we want to create and give to our future grandchildren. We plan to spend some years in Austin, Texas, being empty nesters and then I see us wherever our children are…hopefully with grandchildren or in the least, some granddogs.”

Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “Opening an Indie Bookstore with Scarlet Pendarvis, Jill Abernathy, Katie Bruner, and Emilie Cook. I think books are the best way to bring the world to our community and for kids to experience things that they will one day hopefully be able to see for themselves, so this would be my dream.”

Q: And, what is something you have been proud to check off your bucket list?
A: “Taking our children to Europe at a young age hoping that they would fall in love with travel and it worked! Our daughter will share Europe with her husband this winter and revisit some places we took her on our trip and my son has plans to visit one of his best friends in Prague at some point.”

Q: What is your go to band when you cant decide what to listen to?
A: “Believe it or not, a local band, The Murphs! If you don’t know them, immediately go to your streaming music service and look them up and also watch for them performing around town. I have so much respect for bands who are also songwriters.”

Q: In hard times we can sometimes see and recognize greatness in those around us. Hard working. Positive attitudes. Helping on the front lines. Who is one of our local shining lights today?
A: “I’m again going to give a collective answer…our local school counselors, school social workers, and school nurses. I’ve never known another time that we needed these people as much as we do today. Know who these people are in your children/grandchildren’s schools and thank them, please. Their jobs are overwhelming.”

Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
A: “Old Sheldon Church Ruins in Beaufort County, South Carolina. It was burned down by the British in 1779, during the Revolutionary War, rebuilt, and then burned down again by Sherman in 1865. The ruins, along with the ancient graves and massive oaks, are one of the most amazing things I’ve seen.”

Q: Favorite month?  favorite holiday?  and best single day on the calendar?
A: “My favorite month is October because fall is my favorite time of the year. My favorite holiday is Christmas because I love having my family home and getting to slow down a bit together to play games, do puzzles, and just visit. The best single day on the calendar for me would have to be the first day of any vacation because you know you have the whole week ahead of you and you are done with the packing!”

Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
A: “An evening spent with my brother driving through the pasture looking at cows, solving all the problems of the world, and trying not to get thrown off the Polaris. My brother has been my best friend since the day he was born but it took me 46 years to appreciate who he really is. I could not be prouder of him.”

Q: Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
A: “I think I’d like for Olivia Colman to play me in a biopic about my life because she would make me a lot more interesting than I actually am.”

Q: What are one or two of your favorite smells?
A: “My favorite smells are crayons in August because of the excitement of a new school year and coffee in the morning to have the energy to get through that school year.”

Q: Who inspires you to be better?
A: “Hands down, my mom. It is such a gift in life to have a person in it that believes in you way more than you even know how to believe in yourself. She was the one who showed up for all of my events, coached my ball teams, stood beside me on the best and worst days, and listed to me talk things out for hours. When I think of my favorite memories in life, she was either there with me or on the phone letting me tell her about them.”