Mason Cafeteria Worker Dies in Car Wreck

Tina Thornton, who worked in the lunchroom at , and her husband Cedric died in a car accident on Jan. 1, according to a letter from school officials sent home with students on Wednesday.

Thornton, a Harper Woods resident, had worked at Mason since 2009.

“Tina had been battling cancer for the last two years but always reported to work regardless of how she was feeling,” according to the letter from Dr. Elaine Middlekauff, the principal at Mason, and Michelle Knotts, the general manager of Sodexo Food Services for Grosse Pointe Public Schools.

“She always told us the children made her feel better,” Middlekauff and Knotts said in the letter. “Tina and Cedric Thornton had been actively involved with the PLP program, in caring for their extended family of nieces and nephews.”

Tina and Cedric Thornton had one daughter and were the guardians for four other children, according to a story in the Detroit Free Press.

Mason will collect donations this week for the family, and checks can be made out to Linda Muse, Tina’s mother. Knotts and the PLP program staff at also will organize a fundraiser.

Visitation will be held Friday at 1 p.m. at Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit, according to the Free Press. Funeral services will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Detroit.