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HORN, John Andrew 1953-2007

HORN, BOSS, GREAVES, JOHNSON, BENNETT, POTTER, CAMARATA, THOMAS, TUCKER

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 8/18/2012 at 16:55:00

CEDAR FALLS, IA -John Andrew Horn, 53, of Cedar Falls died Monday, June 25, 2007 in Colona, Illinois as a result of an airplane accident.

John was born September 22, 1953 in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Lloyd & Doris (Boss) Horn. He lived on a farm near Stuart for the first 6 years of his life until the family moved to Cedar Falls in 1959. John participated in Boy Scouts where he received the Eagle Scout Award and Church Award for God and Country. He graduated from Cedar Falls High School in 1972 and attended Hawkeye Community College and the University of Northern Iowa.

John married Sheri Ann Greaves on October 17, 1981 in Cedar Falls. He worked for John Deere since 1972 as an electrician. John had an interest in older cars and restored a 1972 Oldsmobile convertible, which was his pride and joy. John and Sheri were both pilots and loved airplanes so much they purchased a 1947 antique airplane.

Survivors include his mother and stepfather, Doris (Warren Thomas) Horn; two nephews, Casey Johnson of Norfolk, Virginia (US Navy on board USS Nassau) and Johnathon Johnson of Lamoni, Iowa; three stepsisters, Ruth Bennett of Atlanta, Georgia, Carol (Jeff) Potter of Queen Creek, Arizona and Donna (Larry) Camarata of Cedar Falls; two stepbrothers, John (Eser Tolunay) Thomas of Potomac, Maryland and Dan Thomas of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and many step nieces and step nephews.

John was preceded in death by his father and his sister, Fyrne Tucker.

Memorial services for John & Sheri will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 6, 2007, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church with inurnment at a later date. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home and for one hour prior to service time at the church on Friday. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the John & Sheri Horn Memorial Fund, established through Wells Fargo Bank.

[Source: Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home]

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[Quad City Times, June 26, 2007]

Plane crash kills Cedar Falls, Iowa couple

COLONA, Ill. — A couple from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who loved to fly died when their plane crashed in a soybean field Monday morning north of Colona.

John A. and Sheri A. Horn, both 53, were headed to an airshow in Southport, N.C., for a week’s vacation, a co-worker of Sheri Horn said.

Kristi Moeller, a manager at Curves in Cedar Falls, where Sheri Horn had worked for about four years as a fitness technician, last spoke with her friend about 5:30 a.m. Monday, less than three hours before the crash.

She said Sheri Horn, a retired accountant, checked in to see if Moeller, who is expecting a child soon, had given birth. Sheri Horn never had children of her own and was excited for Moeller.

“She’s loved by all the clients,” Moeller said. “She’s full of energy and enthusiasm.”

Henry County Coroner David Johnson confirmed Monday night that the Horns were killed in the accident, which occurred about 8 a.m. Monday, just north of Cleveland Road and a half-mile north of Colona. The Horns owned the single-engine plane, built in 1947. No one else was on board.

Johnson said the couple were both pilots with around 400 hours of flight experience. He said it wasn’t clear who was flying at the time of the crash.

John Horn, a John Deere employee, had a pilot’s license since at least 1994, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

Moeller said Sheri Horn took the week off for a trip that included an aviation event on the East Coast in North Carolina.

“She loves airplanes, and he loves airplanes, and this was their toy,” Moeller said. “She loved to talk about it.”

An autopsy is planned, and an inquest will follow at a later date, Johnson said.

A pair of employees from nearby Rock River Arms heard the whine of an engine in distress shortly before the crash.

“It sounded like a plane diving, like in those movies when they’re going to bomb a ship,” Pete Mullesch said.

Mullesch and a colleague were at a nearby firing range the company leases from farmer Bob Davis, picking up some crates in which to ship weapons. The plane crashed into a field owned by farmer Dick Baum adjacent to High Street. Mullesch and his co-worker drove to Baum’s farm to see if they could help the downed pilot.

“I ran over to see if there was anything we could do for the guy,” Mullesch said, adding that it was readily apparent there was a fatality involved.

The debris field was small, but the crashed plane left a hole approximately 10 feet deep in the field. What was left of the plane appeared to be a charred, crumpled mass of metal surrounded by yellow police tape.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Elizabeth Isham Corey said the plane departed from Waterloo, Iowa, and was bound for Marshall, Ky., which Moeller said may have been a scheduled break.

Police said the crash happened in foggy conditions, but because no one saw the plane in distress, they could not determine if weather played a role.

The remnants of the plane were removed from the field about 4 p.m. Monday and were taken to a local salvage yard for further analysis, Illinois State Police trooper Jason Wilson said.

Wilson said the coroner’s office also was checking to see whether the crash could have been the result of a plane occupant’s medical condition.

Jeff Reinitz of the Waterloo Courier contributed to this report.


 

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