Mary Alice Thornton was born October 1, 1924 in Renick, a town near Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. She was the daughter of Paul Benson Thornton and Myrtle Daisy Ramsey.

She graduated from Chester High School in Hancock County, West Virginia in 1941.

While a student at St. Francis Hospital during World War II, she participated in the Cadet Nursing Corps.

She married Ralph Lee Rardin in 1946 and they had three daughters, Mary, Cynthia and Sandra. Her second husband was Robert L. Squires, who died in 1982.

According to an online biography, Tri-State Area Tuition Mission Foundation: "She worked at East Liverpool City Hospital beginning in 1941; as an RN with Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery, 1957 to 1959; as an industrial nurse during the building of Shippingport Atomic Power Station, 1963 to 1964; and at Crucible Steel Corporation in Midland, Pennsylvania, 1964 to 1971. - Mary Alice returned to East Liverpool City Hospital in 1972 and retired from there in 1983. She continued to work part-time as an RN for Portamedic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until the time of her death." She also participated in community activities, including the South Side Memorial American Legion Auxiliary Post #952.

Mary Alice Thornton Rardin Squires died January 19, 1995 in Hookstown, Pa. She is buried at Mill Creek Hill Cemetery, Hookstown.