John Thorne moved to Washington in 1969 to work for Northrup-King, now Syngenta Seeds. He retired from the company in 2005, the same year he joined the library board of trustees and its foundation. John and his wife Helen had two daughters, Mary (Thorne) Mendelin and Sandra (Thorne) Abbott, who both are mothers of two and high school English teachers. The most recent book John checked out of the library was The World According to Garp , which his daughter lists as one of the books everyone should read.