Col. John Erwin Horne

Col. John Erwin Horne

Graveside service for Col. John Erwin Horne, age 87 of Norman, Oklahoma, will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 20, 2007, in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

A memorial service will follow at 2:00 p.m. in the First Christian Church in Norman. Rev. David Spain will officiate.

Col. John Erwin Horne USAF (Ret) was born December 10, 1919, in Chickasha, Oklahoma. He died January 17, 2007, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Col. Horne was preceded in death by his beloved wife Bonnie, his grandson Taylor Erwin Faulkner, his parents W. W. and Grace E. Horne, his brother W. E. (Bill) Horne and three sisters, Amy Hunter, Lois Kelly, and Elizabeth Lindsay.

Col. Horne attended both Elementary and Junior High School in Chickasha. In 1934 at age 14 he finally convinced his father and mother to let him go to military school. He graduated from High School in 1937 and Junior College in 1939 at Oklahoma Military Academy in Claremore, Oklahoma. He was Cadet Colonel and Regimented Cadet Commander in 1939 and upon graduation received the Outstanding Cadet award from the Cavalry. He enrolled in the fall of 1939 at the University of Oklahoma where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Before he graduated from OU he was called to Active Duty in October 1941 by the Army Air Corps. During his Air Corp, and subsequently Air Force career, he served overseas in the Philippine Islands, Japan, Greenland and Europe.

Col. Horne had a varied and interesting career. He served as Civilian Personnel Officer at Tinker Air Force Base; as Adjutant and Squadron Commander in Greenland; as Professor of Air Science & Detachment Commander at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota; as Asst. Chief of Education & Operations at Air Force ROTC Headquarters Maxwell AF Base in Montgomery, Alabama; as Adjutant General of Allied Air Forces Central Europe in France; as Chief of the Personnel Services Division, Headquarters in Washington DC and the USAF Personnel Center at Randolph AF Base, Texas. While in Headquarters USAF in the Pentagon, he served on two special assignments as Air Force Representative to the U.S. Civil Rights commission and as Air Force Representative to President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces. His last assignment before retirement with 30 years service was as Deputy Chief of Staff Personnel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colonel Horne was awarded the second highest non-combat medal, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters.

Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1968 he was appointed President of Oklahoma Military Academy in Claremore, Oklahoma. Col. Horne became the first President of Claremore Junior College in 1971.

In 1972 he joined the New York Life Insurance Company as an agent and field underwriter. He retired as an active agent in 1994 but retained a retired agent's contract until his death.

Colonel Horne graduated from the Civilian Personnel School at Kelly Field, Texas; the Air Tactical School at Tyndall Field, Florida; the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; the Academic Instructors School also at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He graduated from St. Olaf College in 1953 with a BA degree in Economics, Magna Cum Laude, and from Oklahoma University in 1978 with a Master of Liberal Studies Degree.

Col. Horne was a member of Rotary International and a Paul Harris Fellow. He was a member and elder of the First Christian Church in Norman.

Survivors include: Daughter: Bonnie McKeever of Tulsa; Daughter & Husband: Mary & Dave Faulkner of Claremore; Grandson: John C. Flick; Grandson & Wife: Matthew A. and Robin Flick; Grandson: Paul R. Flick; Grandson: David Foreman Faulkner; Great-Grandson: Sean Matthew Flick.

Services will be under the direction of the McRay Funeral Home, Chickasha.

Memorial contribution may be made to the Bonnie Horne Fund at the First Christian Church, 220 S. Webster, Norman, Oklahoma, 73069 or the Colonel John E. Horne Scholarship Endowment at Rogers State University, 1701 W. Will Rogers Blvd., Claremore, Oklahoma, 74017.