{"id":3142,"date":"2026-05-24T18:14:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/?page_id=3142"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:34:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:34:41","slug":"abt-bio-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/abt-bio-page\/","title":{"rendered":"ABT Bio Page"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Who is Ashley Bean Thornton?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>

Teacher. Worker. Community Connector.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Who am I and why am I running?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I’ve been a teacher, a corporate trainer, and I worked at Baylor for 20 years doing everything from training to strategic planning, process improvement, and community outreach.<\/p>\n

I’m retired now. My husband, Craig, and I have been happily married for more than 40 years. We have three dogs of various sizes, personalities, and genealogies. I am very serious about my jalape\u00f1o cheddar biscuits at Whataburger. I wear only comfortable clothes. We have a ridiculous number of books.<\/p>\n

Our house is paid off. We can afford the air conditioning. We can keep the cars running. We can go to the doctor when we need to. We can take a trip every now and then.<\/p>\n

We are living our American Dream.<\/p>\n
I am running for office because I believe we are all better off when that kind of good, secure life is within reach for more people. I believe great public schools, economic policies that support working families, and a commitment to working together make that more likely.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Life and Career<\/h5>\n

My dad was in the heavy construction business \u2014 roads and bridges, that kind of thing. My mom was a high school English teacher and librarian. We moved around a lot when I was little before finally settling in Baytown, Texas.<\/p>\n

My next stop was Baylor, where I met my husband, Craig. After graduation, we moved to San Marcos, where we both earned our teaching certificates from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University).<\/p>\n

We moved to Houston, where we both taught high school for a few years. Eventually, I took my teaching skills into the business world and became a corporate trainer. I helped develop computer-based training for companies such as Shell Oil and Delta Airlines.<\/p>\n

Along the way, I learned about all kinds of work \u2014 refinery safety, running a convenience store, customer service, leadership, and continuous process improvement. I learned that no matter the industry, helping people learn, grow, and work together matters.<\/p>\n

About 30 years ago, good friends and a church we loved brought us back to Waco. We love it here.<\/p>\n

I worked at Baylor for 20 years doing training, strategic planning, and organizational development. After Baylor, I circled back to public education and worked for Transformation Waco helping start the afterschool program at J.H. Hines Elementary.<\/p>\n

I retired in 2023 around the same time my husband retired after a career as a high school math teacher.<\/p>\n

Across education, business, and community work, I have spent my career helping people solve problems, improve systems, and build stronger organizations.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Community Involvement<\/h5>\n

One of my great joys since moving to Waco has been getting involved in the community.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I have served on the board of the Economic Opportunities Advancement Corporation (EOAC) and on the Waco Transit Advisory Board. I helped facilitate Leadership Plenty and a Leader’s Circle for the Waco Foundation. I also served as chair of the Poverty Solutions Steering Committee for the City of Waco.<\/p>\n

In 2008, I started Act Locally Waco, a website and e-newsletter designed to help people \u201cGet informed! Get involved! Get a great community!\u201d<\/em> as the tagline says.<\/p>\n

In 2016, a group of friends and I started Waco Walks. We host about six walks each year, and lately it is not unusual for 100 or more people to come walk with us. Our goal is simple: explore Waco on foot, build community, and encourage a more walkable city.<\/p>\n

My newest project started in January 2025. Along with another group of friends, I helped launch McLennan County Talks. In 2025, we hosted more than 20 non-partisan community conversations about issues affecting our community, including public schools, healthcare, small business, animal welfare, and our local water supply \u2014 just to name a few.<\/p>\n

I love serving this community. As someone who moved around a lot when I was younger, I treasure having a hometown.<\/p>\n

I am excited about the opportunity to serve our community in a new way \u2014 as your representative in the Texas House.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Who is Ashley Bean Thornton?\u00a0 Teacher. Worker. Community Connector.\u00a0 Who am I and why am I running? I’ve been a teacher, a corporate trainer, and I worked at Baylor for 20 years doing everything from training to strategic planning, process improvement, and community outreach. I’m retired now. My husband, Craig, and I have been happily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3144,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3142","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3142"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3220,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3142\/revisions\/3220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}