Afton Ponce

Final Flight on January 07, 2014

Afton Ponce (Thornton)

Staff Sgt. Afton Ponce USAF assigned to the 56th Rescue Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England was killed during a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crash while performing a low-level training mission on the Norfolk coast, Jan. 7, 2014.

Sgt. Ponce, 28, grew up in a miltary family in Priest River, Idaho and leaves behind her husband Andy and two children.

According to a family friend, Afton Marie Thornton, who later married Andy Ponce, Afton was raised in Priest River, ID. and attended Priest River Lamanna High School and graduated in 2003. An obituary for her father, Therien Thornton, in 2007 indicates she has two brothers and two sisters. Ponce's father was a Marine who served in Vietnam while her brother Ethan served in the Army and her brother Ivan served in the Marine Corps.

On Jan. 25, 2014 at 1 p.m. a memorial service will be held at Sherman & Knapp Funeral Home in Priest River, followed by a 2 p.m. full Military Honor’s service, open to the public, at the Evergreen Cemetery in Priest River.

Sherman-Knapp Funeral Home in Priest River is in charge of arrangements.

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