John Horn
(passed away December, 2002)
After
leaving school I ventured to Tampa, Fla. to spread my wings. I worked several
jobs and wound up working for Continental Can Co. I met my wife Julie on a
cruise ship and married in 1966. We have three girls, Heather, Heidi and Holly.
During the next several years we were transferred and lived in Auburndale,
Fla., San Antonio, TX., Ft. Worth, TX., Longview, TX., and then to Baltimore,
Md. An opportunity came up to go to the International Division, so we relocated
to Naperville, Il. (a Western suburb of Chicago) I was assigned to go to different
countries as an onsite project manager. I built and put into operation aluminum
can manufacturing plants for joint ventures. Some of the most interesting places
were: Hong Kong, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Guadalajara, Mexico, Montreal, Toronto
and Edmonton, Canada. After eight years of travel, the family decided that
I should stay closer to home. A Plant Managers' job came open in Shelbyville,
Il., and we decided to accept the position. At that plant we made paper products
for the fast food industry. If you have eaten at McDonalds, Wendy's, KFC, Taco
Bell, Hardees or any of the other fast food restaurant, you most likely used
products from our plant. By now we were owned by International Paper Company.
After sixteen years in Shelbyville and a total of 40 years with the company,
I retired in April 2000. Julie and I have decided to stay in the area as it
is a central point for the kids. Heather and her husband have twins and live
in Naperville., Il., Heidi and her husband have a little boy and live in Fayetteville,
Arkansas, where her husband is an Asst. Football Coach at the University of
Arkansas and Holly, single, lives in St. Louis, Mo., and works for GM.
What life is like after retirement? GREAT !!! Each year since, I have been
called back to consult with plant issues for three months at a time. During
the Spring of the year we go to Key West and fish with good friends and on
the way home we stop by to visit more friends at Lady Lake, Fla. We live on
a golf course in Mattoon, Il., so during the summer I play a lot of golf. Then
in the fall a group of us go to Colorado, every other year, to hunt Elk and
Deer. Also in the fall another friend and I drive our cars to the West Coast
and up to Seattle, Wa., playing different golf courses as we go. Our wives
fly out to San Francisco and we sight see on the way back to Illinois. This
usually takes about a month. In between this time we always look for an excuse
to go see the Grandchildren. So far I haven't had a boring day.
