Guestbook for Catherine Horn

These reflections on the life of Catherine Stainken Horn were posted by visitors to the University Lutheran Church website after her death in May 2007. To add to the collection, please email our webmaster.

Name: Kristen Dimas
City: Chicago, IL USA
Relationship to Mrs. Horn: granddaughter
Sent: 17-May-2007 10:57 AM

I have missed my "Grandma Horn" for many years now. Many of the people reading this already know that my grandmother has not been the same person she once was. She definitely was not your typical cookie-baking grandmother, but she sure was fun! She had a way of making shucking corn for dinner seem like a treat. She would march down the streets of Cambridge with my sister, cousins, and me singing at the top of her voice. She would spend hours trying to patch and blow up green inflatable floats to use in the branch on our vacations in Vermont, only to chase them down the river when they were swept out of a granchild's hand. She sure loved to talk ( a trait I'm afraid she passed down to me), and I loved to listen to her speaking in her Brooklyn accent, telling stories about how she and my grandfather first met. How they road around in a rumble seat in the back of a car in Ithaca. I'll always remember how she loved babies (which is probably why she had ten of them!), and I'll always treasure the memories I have of her holding my three oldest children. My only regret is that I wasn't able to see her hold my youngest son, Christos, who was born just last November. Even though she wasn't the same person she once was, babies still brought a smile to her face.

Losing my grandparents has been very difficult for me. I have so many great memories of them. Even though we lived so far away, I was close to them and would often talk with them on the phone and send letters and pictures. It is this distance now that is a barrier to me being able to come out to properly say good-bye to two people who meant so much to me throughout my life. My role now, as a mother of four young children, keeps me at home in Chicago. I know my grandmother would understand this. Good-bye Grandma, I love you very much!


Name: Susan Worst
City: Brookline, Massachusetts
Relationship to Mrs. Horn: Member of University Lutheran Church
Sent: 15-May-2007 08:15 PM

Catherine's warm and energetic welcome—to me and to the many other new students around me—is one of my earliest memories of UniLu. Her ability to keep up with an ever-changing community, always interested in newcomers and making room for guests, was an inspiration!


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