M.W. “Teddy” Thornhill Jr., a civil rights activist and first African American mayor of Lynchburg, Virginia, was born Murrell Warren Thornhill, Jr. on March 31, 1921, to Murrell W. Thornhill, Sr. and Alease Gilbert Thornhill. He had a younger brother, Kyle Thornhill, and a sister, Yvonne Roberta Mae Thornhill Ferguson.
In 1940, Thornhill graduated from Paul Laurene Dunbar High School in Lynchburg where he was mentored by Dunbar’s principal, Clarence Williams Seay, Jr. From 1940 to 1942, Thornhill studied at St. Emma Military Academy in Powhatan County, Virginia, the only military school for African Americans in the United States.
In 1943 Thornhill was licensed as a Mortician by the State of Virginia. In 1948 he became the Chief Executive Officer of Community Funeral Home in Lynchburg, the first African American-owned funeral home in Lynchburg.
Thornhill who over his life had close ties to Dr. Martin L. King Jr., Congressman John Lewis, and Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, served as president of the Lynchburg Voter’s League. In 1962 he became the first Black citizen of the city to run for elected office since the 1890s when he was elected to the Lynchburg School Board.
Thornhill left Lynchburg in the 1970s to be certified as a funeral director. He earned a professional degree in Mortuary Science from Eckels College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1976. Afterward, he returned home to become the managing director of the Community Funeral Home which he would later own.
In 1982 Virginia Governor Charles “Chuck” Robb appointed Thornhill to the State Board of Contractors, a post he held until 1986. Thornhill also began serving as Vice Mayor of Lynchburg in 1986, a post he held until 1990. Thornhill was elected as the first African American Mayor of Lynchburg in 1990, defeating Julian Adams. He served only two years until 1992, retiring due to health reasons.
Thornhill has served in numerous leadership roles other as mayor including Chair of the Board of Management of the Hunton Branch YMCA, President of the local chapter of the NAACP branch, and the president of the Lynchburg Voters League. He was also a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (the Boulé) and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Virginia University of Lynchburg.
The Honorable M.W. “Teddy” Thornhill Jr., married twice, is the father of Murrell, Thornhill, and Nan Thornhill Evans. He died on July 2, 2016, in Lynchburg at 95.
In 2023, a life-sized bronze statue of Thornhill, designed by sculptor Ed Walker, was unveiled and dedicated in the center of the Fifth Street roundabout in Lynchburg.
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Alexia Stanbridge, “A special day:’ Former Mayor M.W. Thornhill’s statue unveiled,” https://wset.com/news/local/a-special-day-former-mayor-mw-thornhills-statue-unveiled-lynchburg-virginia-august-2023;
Courtney Wheaton, “First African American Mayor of Lynchburg dies,” https://wset.com/amp/news/local/first-african-american-mayor-of-lynchburg-dies;“Murrell Warren Thornhill Jr. “Teedy”
March 31, 1921 – July 2, 2016,” https://www.communityfuneralhomeinc.com/obituary/3860494;
