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Jiles Wade Horn

b. January 23, 1928 | d. May 15, 2018

Ninety years after he was born and 20 days shy of his 70th wedding anniversary, Jiles Wade Horn of Post Falls, Idaho, died peacefully in the wee hours of May 15, 2018. Wade, as he was called, was born Jan. 23, 1928, in Kansas City, Kan., to Olive Evangeline Horn, a homemaker, and Jiles Wade Horn Sr., a physician. Olive occasionally earned some income playing piano at a local dime store and later got a job working for the draft board during World War II. Jiles died early when Wade was just 11.

He was preceded in death by his older brother, Jack. Wade is survived by his younger brother, Byron (Evie) Horn of Green Valley, Ariz.; by his wife, Betty Horn (Abramson) of Post Falls; by children, Sharon Pataky of Liberty Lake, Wash., and Jack (Christina) Horn of Post Falls; by grandsons, Jeremy Pataky of McCarthy and Anchorage, Alaska, and Dustin DuRoy (Elissa) Horn of Athol, Idaho. He is also survived by nephew and niece, Gary Manthei and Carla Manthei, both of Kansas City, Mo.

Wade started working at age 12. He delivered newspapers by bicycle and then groceries by truck (without yet having a driver’s license or much driving experience). After stints at the Armour Packing Company and the Darby Corporation’s shipbuilding yard, he returned to delivery — this time carrying mail by truck and foot for the U.S. Postal Service.

Upon graduating from Wyandotte High School, in Kansas City, Kan., in 1945, Wade enlisted in the U.S. Marine Air Corps, eventually landing in Hawaii as a tailor after boot camp in San Diego and air traffic plotter training on the Great Lakes.

Wade and Betty had met in their teens and corresponded almost daily during his time in the service. After he was discharged in 1947, they married on June 4, 1948 — a double wedding with Betty’s sister, Lilah, and Fred Manthei. Wade attended the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints growing up, and Wade became an elder and assistant pastor for a time.

Betty and Wade lived in two trailers — 15 and 27 feet — before moving into their first house during the July flood of 1951, in Kansas City.

Wade began working for Phillips Petroleum Company at the oil refinery in Kansas City as a yardman. He was smart and personable enough to rise through the ranks, eventually becoming an operations shift supervisor, responsible for half the refinery despite his lack of a college degree. He was liked and well-respected at Phillips by his subordinates, peers, and superiors; he would spend decades digesting that era of his life through storytelling at family gatherings. His career spanned 34 years, punctuated with an early retirement in 1982, forced by the closure of the plant.

He loved the natural beauty of North Idaho, and five years later he and Betty relocated to Post Falls, to the house that would be his final home. Over the years, they influenced at least 10 people to relocate to North Idaho.

Though his later years involved a whole lot of recliner time, most of his life was characterized with physical activity — he was an assistant adult Boy Scouts leader for 10 years, an awarded runner and swimmer, a skier and snowmobiler, and a lifelong shooter and firearms enthusiast. He was also Betty’s devoted square and round dancing partner for many a year.

Wade was buried in Post Falls on May 24, 2018, with Military Honors by the United States Marine Corps, at a family graveside service. A consummate storyteller, unmatched by any survivor, his life’s worth of yarns will go missed and remembered, and unreplicable, by those lucky to have known him.

Please visit Wades online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.