Danny Ray Horn

Dan was born February 1, 1947, to Julia Arlene Blankenship and Floyd “Jim” Horn in Marion, Ohio. He graduated in 1965 from Marion Harding High School and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served for 3 years, including 2 years stationed in Ulm, Germany. After the Army, Dan worked for Norfolk & Western Railroad while attending Marion Technical College and Franklin University for Associate’s and Batchelor’s degrees in Business. He started working for Ross Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio in 1975 and retired as Vice President of Distribution & Transportation Operations at parent company Abbott Laboratories in Mundelein, IL. He retired in 2002 at age 55 to golf and spend time with his kids. He moved to Nashville, TN to enjoy three seasons of golf, and later to Centerville, OH.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and siblings Patricia Wilson, Rod Beechum, and Gary Horn.

His is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughters Sundae Horn (Rob Temple), Dana Grimes (Cyrus), Devon Horn (Jeff Mahr), and Anne McGee (Adam); and son, Daniel; and seven grandchildren: Emmet Temple, Caroline Temple, Elias Grimes, Mariah Temple, Beatrice Grimes, Otto Anderson, and Luke McGee; brother-in-law Raymond Salata (Linda) and sister-in-law Cindy Thomas (Danny); and many nieces and nephews. His close friends included John Casey, Russ Wescoe, Kevin Dolan, and Ed Hobgood.

Dan loved golf, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. He was a fan of the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs. He would watch any sport on TV and root for whoever was winning. He had season tickets to the 90’s Chicago Bulls and went to many golf tournaments, particularly Muirfield in Dublin, OH. He had a sweet tooth, and enjoyed peanuts in every form, but mostly mixed with sugar and chocolate. He loved all the non-health foods, especially pizza, cookies, and cheese dip. He loved a sausage McMuffin with egg. He was an avid reader and always had a book close by. He was a first-generation Trekkie, but not in a weird way. He loved to laugh and watched lots of comedies. He found babies and small children to be endlessly entertaining. He was a big tipper. He had a 13-year love-hate relationship with Yorkie-Bichon mix Benji and liked most other dogs. He never tired of seeing his kids play sports or perform. He enjoyed coaching Daniel’s Little League baseball team. He really liked to play golf.

Dan enjoyed spoiling his kids and was indulgent with birthday gifts, trips to Disney, summer camps, horseback riding lessons, big buckets of popcorn at the movies, loud music in the car, shopping malls, dinners out, tag-along friends, visits to zoos and museums, beautiful weddings, and new wheels. He always exited through the gift shop. He especially loved to buy toys and was familiar with all his kids’ and grandkids’ interests from dinosaurs, trains, and ladybugs to team merchandise, Lego sets, and tape. He loved to buy stuffed animals. “Grandpa Dan” was at his best at Christmas, his favorite time of year. He needed Christmas lists by mid-October and did all the shopping and wrapping and mailing himself. He was careful not to send any two presents in the same wrapping paper, and he signed them all “Santa Claus” even though his grandkids knew he was even better than Santa because “Grandpa Dan doesn’t care if you’ve been good or not!”

In February 2022, Dan celebrated his 75th birthday by playing Top Golf with all his kids and grandkids and then treating everyone to a big dinner with two cakes and all the flavors of ice cream. Since then, health issues had slowed him down, but he had Barbara, Anne, Daniel, Adam, and baby Luke nearby to bring him joy every day. In his final weeks of life, he watched the Master’s Tournament with Luke to celebrate his first Easter.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the ASPCA. A memorial service will be planned for later in the year when the family can gather again.