Obituary of Helen Horn

Helen Meader (Dodge) Horn, former Boisean, celebrated life for 98 years and passed peacefully from this world on Thursday, Sept.8, 2011 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Born in Boise, Idaho on April 25, 1913, she was the daughter of Roscoe R. Dodge and (Josephine) Margery Dow Dodge. After graduating from Boise High School in 1929, she was hired by Idaho Power Company as a Home Economist, and was sent to Cleveland, Ohio, for training on the use of electric lighting and the latest electric home appliances, including the electric range. After training she returned to Boise and conducted classes throughout the Treasure Valley and southern Idaho, teaching local homemakers to use the new appliances and how to cook with the electric range. Helen met her future husband, Thomas C. Horn, in a coffee shop in Nampa, Idaho. They struck up a conversation about structures he was in charge of building as Refuge Manager at the new Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). When she returned to her apartment that evening, Helen told her roommate she had met the man she was going to marry. Helen and Tom were married two years later, on September 4, 1940, at Wolf Point, Montana. Future transfers took the Horns to Fort Peck, Montana and what is now Charles Russell NWR (and several other nearby refuges in eastern Montana); Stillwater NWR, Fallon, Nevada; Klamath Basin NWRefuges headquartered at Tulelake, California; then into the northwest regional office in Portland, Oregon. Told that would be their final transfer, they purchased a home, put down a few roots, and within two years were transferred to the New England regional office in Boston, Massachusetts. Tom had chosen the perfect mate to share his career and their nomadic life. Helen's finest life role was as Tom's wife and their two daughters, Nancy & Margery (Meg) were raised in an atmosphere of love and cooperation between two parents who clearly adored each other for every day of their 56 year marriage. Her cooking expertise was tested often as Wildlife Service officials visited from Portland and Washington DC to inspect construction progress on new buildings and other new refuge structures. Although throughout much of his career they lived several miles over washboard roads away from any town, Helen always had 'company dinner' ready to present on just a couple of hours' notice to as many officials as showed up, most times without warning. Their home was kept companyready at all times, even when they had to hang wet sheets and blankets over all the inside windows to keep out dust and sand from raging windstorms that would sometimes blow through the area. At most of the refuges the couple managed to have a garden, and Helen's iris and other flowers was always an outstanding feature of any landscape around the manager's home. Frequent transfers were met with Helen's attitude of adventure and the family's first year anywhere was treated as tourist time to learn about their new community. That attitude of adventure carried them through 24 years of Tom's retirement. They stored or got rid of all their worldly possessions, bought a new car they could camp in if absolutely necessary, and spent their first 17 retired years traveling all over the U.S., Canada and Alaska, often storing the car on one coast or the other and flying off for months at a time all over the South Pacific, Asia and Europe. In the late 1980s they finally took an apartment in Boise to act as "home base", and enjoyed Tom's last few years traveling the world and then returning home to friends and visits from far-flung family members. Helen remained in Boise after Tom's death in 1996, finally moving to Massachusetts in 2004, to be near her older daughter and family. Her last years were spent at New Horizons Assisted Living in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where she immediately took over their 15'x30' greenhouse and turned it into a spotless and happy place where flowers of many kinds bloom constantly and residents enjoy visiting at all hours. There is a plaque at the greenhouse door with her photo and the words "Helen Horn, Manager". She joins her daughter Nancy E. Horn Dallaire 70, whom just passed on August 25, 2011 after a long courageous battle with breast cancer. Survivors Include: her daughter, Margery Cheryl Horn Mitchell of Hawaii; son in law, Robert A. Dallaire; seven grandchildren; seven great grandchildren; as well as a niece, Patricia (Russell) Newcomb and nephew, Rick (Linda) Dodge, both of Boise, Idaho. Memorial services are to be held on Saturday, September 24th at 2:00 pm. at Summers Funeral Home, Boise Chapel, 1025 W. Bannock St., Boise, Idaho. Following the services, all are invited to stay for a reception at the funeral home, followed by the burial at Pioneer Cemetery.