If you have ever been to George Steinbrenner Field (The Yankees spring training facility) in Tampa Florida, then you have been to the Yankee team store. While there, you would’ve seen or heard this short woman with a bundle of energy and a raspy voice screaming out loud.
Marie Thornton had worked at the team store longer than I could remember.
Every time that I would go to Steinbrenner Field, my first stop was always the store. I always looked for Marie because she was so much fun and I could talk to her about anything. Months could pass that I wouldn’t see Marie and we would pick up right where we left off. If I walked in the store and she wasn’t there, then I knew that chances were that she was outside smoking. When ever I would introduce her to a friend, they never would forget her. She had the personality of a television comedian. Instead of working at the store she should’ve been the star of her own sitcom.
Today my friend David Fenster called me to let me know that Marie had died of cancer. I am saddened to hear this terrible news. I am extra saddened at the fact that I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye.
To say that Marie was an extremely wonderful and sweet person would be an understatement.
I am saddened at the fact that I never took the time to tell her this. I feel that I took her for granted because I just devoured the sweetness that was Marie and I never took the time to say thank you for being a friend.
I will miss her always, especially when I walk by the Yankee team store.
My deepest condolences to her sister and family and all of her friends and of course the N. Y. Yankees, because you lost a very loyal worker who was always proud to say that she worked for the Yankees.