Dolores "Dee" Horton

Dolores (Dee) Anne Atkins Horton of Greeley, Colorado, went home to be with her Gracious Heavenly Father on March 21, 2018 at the age of 77. She was born April 18, 1940 in Kimball, Nebraska, a fourth-generation descendent of a pioneer family who homesteaded in what is now Kimball County, Nebraska. Her parents were Vernon DeWitt and Virginia Maida Stearley Atkins. She grew up with her siblings Kendall, Howard, and Mary Jane north of Kimball on Brookside Farm, which is over 100 years old and on the National Register of Historic Places. Dolores graduated from Kimball County High School in 1958, and from Hastings College with a degree in Elementary Education in 1962. She taught fourth grade in Los Alamos, New Mexico with her first husband, Ron Schoonover. They later moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where she again taught fourth grade. She and Ron had children Ruth Marie on September 15, 1969, and Matthew James on February 2, 1971. They later divorced. She worked in a technical writing division for the USDA where she met her loving husband, Jerry Donald (Don) Horton. They were married August 2, 1985 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Don and Dee beautifully blended their two families as they began their 32-year marriage. During high school she played in the band and sang in the chorus. She also sang in college, in church choirs, with the Fort Collins Women’s Chorale, and the Sweet Adelines Barbershop Chorus. Dee was dedicated to her Christian faith and was a member of Greeley Cornerstone Community Church at the time of her death. Over the years, in various churches, she served as a deaconess, choir member, church organist, greeters coordinator, and on the worship team. Left to cherish her memory are her devoted husband, Don; daughter Ruth Schoonover (Timothy), son Matthew Schoonover; Don’s children: Jeffery Horton, Stacy Horton, Stephanie Soder (Fred), and Craig Horton (Angela); grandsons Ian Benjamin Soder and Austin Franklin Green; granddaughters Jessica Nichole Musso (Anthony), Kaitlyn Anne Zeigler, Madison Leigh Horton, Merrell Grace Horton, Emily Katrina Soder, Brooke Lindsay Schoonover, Tylar Jade Schoonover, and Mia Salazar; and great granddaughters, McKenzie Jo Tiemann and Gianna Marie Musso. Dee also is survived by her loving extended family, including brothers Kendall Atkins (Beverly) of Dix, Nebraska; Howard Atkins (Peggy) of Scottsbluff, Nebraska; sister Mary Jane Samuels (Vern) of Polk, Nebraska; and many nieces and nephews. Also, Marianne Håkanssen, an exchange student from Eksjö, Sweden, who lived with the Atkins family in Nebraska when she and Dee were seniors in high school. A memorial service will be held at Cornerstone Community Church, 1321 9th Avenue Greeley at 2:00 PM Thursday, March 29, 2018. A private interment will be conducted for the family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado or Cornerstone Community Church’s music department in care of Adamson Funeral & Cremation, 2000 47th Ave., Greeley, CO 80634.