Jiles Horn

Jiles Wade Horn

January 23, 1928 | d. May 15, 2018

Ninety years after he was born and twenty days shy of his 70th wedding anniversary, Jiles Wade Horn of Post Falls, Idaho died peacefully in the wee hours of May 15, 2018. Wade, as he was called, was born January 23, 1928 in Kansas City, Kansas to Olive Evangeline Horn, a homemaker, and Jiles Wade Horn Sr., a physician. Olive occasionally earned some income playing pianoat a local dime store and later got a job working for the draft board during World War II. Jiles died early when Wade was just eleven.

Preceded in death by his older brother Jack, Wade is survived by his younger brother Byron Horn and his wife, Evie, of Green Valley, Arizona; by his wife, Betty Horn (born Betty Abramson) of Post Falls; by children Sharon Pataky of Liberty Lake, Washington and Jack Horn (and his wife, Christina) of Post Falls; by grandsons Jeremy Pataky of McCarthy and Anchorage, Alaska and Dustin DuRoy Horn (and his wife, Elissa), of Athol, Idaho. He is also survived, by nephew and niece, Gary Manthei and Carla Manthei, both of Kansas City, Missouri.

Wade started working at age twelve. He delivered newspapers by bicycle and then groceries by truck (without yet having a driver’s license or much driving experience). After stints at the Armour Packing Company and the Darby Corporation’s shipbuilding yard, he returned to delivery—this time carrying mail by truck and foot for the US Postal Service.

Upon graduating from Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas in 1945, Wade enlisted in the US Marine Air Corps, eventually landing in Hawaii as a tailor after boot camp in San Diego and air traffic plotter training on the Great Lakes.

Wade and Betty had met in their teens and corresponded almost daily during his time in the service. After he discharged in ’47, they married on June 4, 1948—a double wedding with Betty’s sister, Lilah, and Fred Manthei. Wade attended the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church growing up, and Wade became an elder and assistant pastor for a time.

Betty and Wade lived in two trailers—fifteen and twenty-seven feet—before moving into their first house during the July flood of 1951 in Kansas City.

Wade began working for Phillips Petroleum Company at the oil refinery in Kansas City as a yardman. He was smart and personable enough to rise through the ranks, eventually becoming an operations shift supervisor responsible for half the refinery, despite his lack of a college degree. He was liked and well-respected at Phillips by his subordinates, peers, and superiors; he would spend decades digesting that era of his life through storytelling at family gatherings. His career spanned 34 years, punctuated with an early retirement in 1982 forced by the closure of the plant. He loved the natural beauty of North Idaho, and five years later, he and Betty relocated to Post Falls, to the house that would be his final home. Over the years, they influenced at least ten people to relocate to North Idaho.

Though his later years involved a whole lot of recliner time, most of his life was characterized with physical activity—he was an assistant adult Boy Scouts leader for ten years, an awarded runner and swimmer, a skier and snowmobiler, anda lifelong shooter and firearms enthusiast. He was also Betty’s devoted square and round dancing partner for many a year.

Wade was buried in Post Falls on May 24, 2018 with Military Honors by the United States Marine Corps at a family graveside service. A consummate storyteller unmatched by any survivor, his life’s worth of yarns will go missed and remembered—and unreplicable—by those lucky to have known him.