Remembering Hal C. Horton, Jr.

I visited with Pud Kearns last week. As we talked she reminisced about her uncle, Hal Horton, Jr., who died recently at the age of 102. Hal was a descendant of James R. and Mary Merrill Horton. The couple arrived in Hunt County during the final days of the Republic of Texas. They claimed land on Cowleech Creek where it crosses I-30 today. It’s where Mary Horton Lauderdale and her husband Sam built the Mary of Puddin Hill Store. Sam and Mary were Pud’s parents. The Hortons have been some of the most outstanding citizens throughout the county since the early 1840s.

Hal Horton, Sr., and his wife Gertrude Briscoe Horton were pretty amazing themselves. Mr. Horton served as Sam Rayburn’s personal secretary before World War I. He left Washington to lead the men of Hunt County in battle in France. He was raised from captain to major before the war was over.

When Hal, Sr., returned home from the war to his wife and two children, his son, Hal, Jr., was not excited to see this strange man who moved into their house and took over. How dare he! It was a while before the two became buddies.

Hal, Jr. attended public school here in Greenville and while in high school became an avid rider of motorcycles. That was the beginning of his love of mechanical things. He joined the Army Air Corps in June 1941 and went to Mather Field in Sacramento where he served as a flight trainer.

He told me one time about standing in line for his pay with Dean Hallmark, also from Greenville. Hallmark was one of the pilots on the Green Hornet under Col. Jimmy Doolittle. Doolittle led his men on the first bombing mission over Japan in 1943. Hallmark flew the sixth plane off the Green Hornet, dropped his bomb, but ran low on fuel, ditched the plane just off the coast of China. He was captured and executed by the Japanese. Hal was the last person from Greenville to see Dean Hallmark.

On August 30, 1941 Hal married Lelloine Ragland of Daingerfield. Hal’s mother, brother Jack and sister Mary drove Lelloine from Greenville to Sacramento for the wedding. That’s how highly Gertrude thought of Lelloine.

Hal was stationed on Guam with the 315th Bomb Wing until the end of the war. But he did tell me about two pilots’ tricks here in Greenville. At that time, pilots heading to the Pacific flew their planes from the East Coast to the Sacramento area where they were assigned to carriers, with a stopover at Majors Field in Greenville. The first pilot flew his plane low enough to get under the traffic light at the corner of Lee and Stonewall before leaving the area. The second guy tried the same thing, but someone got the number of his plane. He was decommissioned and discharged when he landed.

After the war, Hal commanded the Air Force Reserve Recovery Squadron at Majors Field (which was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis), and later worked at his father’s feed mill, before moving to Bonham where he owned and operated a transfer company. When his son moved to Anchorage, Alaska, he found Hal a job working to build the Alaska Pipeline – at the age when all of his friends were retired!

When he finally retired, Hal enjoyed tinkering, making stained glass windows and wooden jigsaw puzzles. But his most amazing interest was using a computer for the family pastime of genealogy. All the Hortons love to know about their ancestors, cousins, and even the bad guys. That’s how I got to know him, and I was always astonished at how much he was able to uncover by visiting cemeteries, searching old records, and contacting distant family members. About 20 years ago, a new technology of DNA appeared on the scene. Hal was one of the first I know to try it, and it opened up a whole new batch of cousins for him.

In fact, in all my communications with Hal, there was only one problem. He never learned that all caps were not acceptable in emails. So, when you received an email in ALL CAPS, you could be certain it was from Hal.

When asked about his longevity Hal said it was due to Bourbon, Chocolate, and Pecans. Lelloine is still living. She attributes prayer to her longevity. Anyone who knew Hal says she is so right!