Graveside services will be held Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. for Vernon Alfred Horton, 80, of Hutchinson, Kansas, at Fairlawn Burial Park in Hutchinson, under the direction of Old Mission-Heritage Funeral Home.  Mr. Horton passed away January 23, 2020, at Diversicare of Hutchinson.  He was born October 18, 1939, at Hutchinson, Kansas, to Alfred Vernon and Clara Elizabeth Moore Horton.  On February 8, 1969, he married Patricia Lynn Anthony, a Licensed Practical Nurse at Anthony, Kansas.  She preceded him in death on May 31, 1998.  The had one child, a daughter Christina Victoria Horton, who survives.  Vernon and Patricia met at a restaurant where both their parents happened to be dining, and his father encouraged him to ask her out but he was to shy.  His parents arranged a meeting of all the parties and their romance began.

Vernon had been employed as a draftsman for much of his adult life, primarily in Hutchinson.  He attended schools in Hutchinson through junior college, graduating from Hutchinson High School in 1957 an Hutchinson Junior College in 1959, before attending college at Kansas State University 1959- 60.  He took up the Viola in grade school and played it the rest of his life.  Throughout junior high, high school and college he was involved in sports, football in high school, musicals, dramatic activities in high school, and YMCA, as well as engineering club in junior college and college.  He was a member of the Theta XI social fraternity as an engineering student in the School of Architecture at Kansas State University.  Vernon was a member of the Hutchinson Symphony Orchestra in which he played for a long time into his later years.  He is described by the director and several orchestra players as a very good player.  On another personal note, it is remembered how much loved cats.

Vernon was a veteran of the Vietnam War serving in the United States Army for three years from 1961 to 1964, followed by three years in the Army reserves.  He served in the photography corps in the 68th Signal Company as photo lab specialist and darkroom man, stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany and carried those skills after the army into winning several awards at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson for his photography.  He was awarded military service medals for Good Conduct and Marksman.

Vernon is survived by: one daughter, Christina Victoria Horton, Hutchinson; one brother, Edward Marvin Horton and wife Sharon Lea Byers Horton, West Plains, Missouri; two grandsons; mother-in-law, Velma leader Anthony; sister-in-law, Gayl Lee; brothers-in-law, Steven Anthony, Wade and Debbie Anthony; several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife Patricia Lynn Anthony Horton; his parents Alfred Vernon and Clara Elizabeth Moore Horton; a brother, Michael Eugene Horton; his father-in-law, Dean Estel Anthony; his grandparents Alfred Boston and Daisy Alice Wright Horton, and Aaron Ramey and Olive Marie Biddison Moore.

Remembrances may be left at the old Mission-Heritage Funeral Home obituary site.