Catherine Horton

Catherine Dalene Horton née Davenport died peacefully in her Broomfield, CO, home on August 16, 2018, after a ten month battle with cancer. She was companioned throughout her dying by her husband and her children. Dalene was born July 24, 1938, in Russellville, AK, to William Hartman Davenport and Catherine Louee Davenport née Davidson. The Great Depression and World War II were difficult times for her family and made lifelong impressions on her world view and beliefs. While her father was away at war, she lived with her maternal grandmother, Johnnie Annie Robert Paulene Estelle Frost; her mother; her aunt, Pauline (Pot) Fryer née Davidson; her uncle George Edgar (Ed) Fryer; and her cousin, Eddie Fryer; all of whom called her Daisy. She was 17 years old when her cousin Steve Fryer was born and she so enjoyed caring for Steve that she often described him as her first baby. When her father was stationed state-side, Dalene lived with her parents in Riverside and Sacramento, CA; New Orleans, LA; Warner-Robins, GA; Austin, TX; and Orlando, FL. She went to Allan Junior High School and Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, TX and graduated from Russellville High School in Arkansas. She studied at the University of Arkansas and graduated from The University of Texas in 1960 with a degree of Bachelor of Business Administration. In 1956, Dalene’s best friend, Gayle Grimmer, invited her to a 4th of July celebration on Lake Travis outside of Austin, TX. Gayle’s boyfriend, Keith Harrell, hosted the party and invited his best friend, Samuel (Sam) Bruner Horton. The day was spent teaching Dalene how to waterski, a sport she and her future husband, Sam, would enjoy their entire lives and teach to their children. In 1962, Dalene flew from Orlando, FL, to Athens, Greece and married Sam on March 7, Ash Wednesday, in the church/theater building at Athenia Air Base. The theater marquee advertised the film, “Loss of Innocence,” and their vows were witnessed and applauded by the congregation gathered for the Ash Wednesday service. They honeymooned in Greece and lived in Izmir, Turkey for two years. In addition to their extensive travels in their 1956 Chevrolet within Turkey, they went on a Holy Land tour and visited Cairo and Luxor in Egypt, Jerusalem and Bethlehem in Jordan, Beirut in Syria, and Cyprus. Dalene made a life-long friend at the Tumpane Company with her Turkish co-worker, Jacqueline Reggio. Dalene often reflected that her time in Turkey was the best time of her life and that being remote from her family forced her to mature into independence and develop a bond for life with her new husband. After leaving Turkey, Sam and Dalene spent a year in Tripoli, Libya. They visited Roman ruins in Leptis Magna and Sabratha and hunkered down through Ghibli dust storms. A point of pride for Dalene was supporting Sam as he did graduate work by working in the accounting department in the Tower at The University of Texas from 1964 to 1966. When Sam took a job with an international chemical company, Sam and Dalene moved to Houston, TX, where their son Scott and daughter Sheryl were born. Sam and Dalene loved their international travel experiences and wanted their children to grow up abroad, but work only took the family to Lake Jackson, Texas and then to El Centro, California. In 1967, Sam and Dalene bought a ski boat and literally built a house with their own hands on Lake Travis. The Lake House was the family’s holiday destination and the entire family became expert water skiers. Even the family’s third child, Boston Terrier “Brisket,” loved the lake. After the children had fledged, Sam accepted a new job and he and Dalene finally returned to international travel with extended assignments in Japan, Singapore, Canada, and England. Dalene was quite the Anglophile and thoroughly enjoyed British manners and culture. She spent many hours absorbing world history at the British Museum and traveling around England during their year in Chiswick, a suburb of London. Dalene delighted in the births of her grandchildren, Thomas and Emily. Dalene was known as DeeDee to her grandchildren because she refused to be called “Grandma” or “Grandmother” and was a strong, loving presence in their lives. After retirement in 2005, Sam and Dalene remodeled the Lake House and took up residence on Lake Travis. Dalene struggled with the heat of Texas summers, so in 2008 they bought a house in Broomfield, CO and began splitting their years, following the good climate. Dalene and Sam joined a line-dancing troop, the Boot-Scooters, in their community in Colorado and also enjoyed reconnecting with so many good friends from Austin, meeting weekly with them at “Klatsch” get-togethers. In 2009, Dalene returned to Turkey with Sam and Scott for a month of travel and sightseeing, including a reunion with her friend Jacqueline and a visit to the apartment where she and Sam lived 47 years earlier. In 2013, she returned to Greece with Sam and Scott and stayed in the exact hotel room where she and Sam had honeymooned 51 years earlier. She made her last big international trip to Italy with Sam and Scott in 2015. In February of 2017, for the one remaining item on her bucket list, Dalene visited Pearl Harbor and Wheeler Airfield and the barracks where her father was at the time of the 1947 Japanese attack. She said many times that she had a wonderful life but her greatest pride was her intelligent children and grandchildren who loved her so very much. Dalene is survived by her husband, Sam; her children, Scott and Sheryl; her children-in-law, John King and Sarah Hart; her grandchildren, Thomas and Emily; her sibling-in-laws Henry Allan Horton III, Sarah Frances Dorsch, Nancy Ann Wilbur, Joan & Ron McBryde; her cousins Ed and Steve Fryer; and family matriarchs, 95 year old Dottie Davidson and 107 year old Jewell Bruner Hutson. Dalene will be cremated on August 27, 2018. A memorial service will be held later this year in Austin, TX. In lieu of flowers or gifts, if you are so inclined, please make a donation to your favorite cancer or Alzheimer’s society.