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Wally Thornhill
President & Dealer Principal, Thornhill Automotive Group
Written by Megan Bevins
Photo by White Heart Photography.
Growing up in the small Logan neighborhood of Justice Addition, Wally Thornhill had an honest upbringing. Most of his early years were spent outside playing sports with friends or getting involved with the community.
Thornhill’ s first jobs included delivering magazines and helping in his father’ s autobody repair shop, two roles he says taught him lessons he carried throughout his career and personal life. After graduating from Logan High School in 1975, he moved to Ohio to attend Mt. Vernon Nazarene College but soon had to return home.
“ My time there was cut short due to my father’ s business declining and my brother being in pharmacy school in Florida,” Thornhill says.“ I returned home to help both, opening my own autobody repair shop called Superior Auto Body in Mt. Gay, WV, renting the space from my best friend’ s father.”
In 1978, Thornhill was able to build his own space for his repair shop, working there while learning business and accounting skills during night classes at Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College. He
112 WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE