Message from the President of Matheny:
From time to time we have giants in the midst of our Matheny community. These giants are not always the loudest, tallest, or demand the most attention, but quietly move behind the scenes steering through others.
Larry Thornton was one of those giants. We feel privileged to have known Larry, who always seemed to push us and others to do more work on behalf of the students and patients that we serve. Thanks to Larry we have LAR (The Learning Accessibility Robot), The Lowe’s Community Garden, a repaved nature trail, Home Depot planting boxes, a hydroponics station, and much more. Larry developed and fostered a relationship between Matheny and Rutgers bio-engineering school which will develop new forms of assistive technology to help people worldwide. Larry also brought in different Knights of Columbus Councils to Matheny to assist in fundraising. Until recent health concerns prevented his participation Larry kept a regiment of volunteering three times a week in the school and also served on both the Matheny School Board Committee and the Board of Trustees. Larry loved the children, the staff, and the spirit of Matheny.
