Erna L Horne

A celebration of life for Erna Lee Horne of Seymour will be held on Monday, March 2, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at the Seymour Church of Christ. Burial will be held at the Gilliland Cemetery under the direction of Archer Funeral Home of Seymour, Texas.

Erna Lee was born on the family farm in Gilliland, Texas, on November 21, 1919, and was the second daughter of pioneer family Onie W. and Mary Williams Welch. She grew up surrounded by love. She died on February 29, 2020 in Wichita Falls, Texas at 100 years young.

She graduated from Truscott High School in 1937. She and E. Paul Horne were married on January 1, 1938, in Seymour, Texas. He preceded her in death on November 17, 1997.

Erna Lee and Paul owned Paul’s Food Store in Gilliland from 1947 to 1975. It was the heart of the community where neighbors visited and shopped for groceries. Erna Lee also owned and operated a beauty shop in their home for several years. One of her greatest pleasures was visiting with her clients from Gilliland, Truscott, Vera, and surrounding communities.

In 1987, she and Paul moved to Seymour where she did volunteer work. She was named the AARP 1996 Woman of the Year for Baylor County and was a member of the Seymour Hospital Auxiliary. She was a faithful member of the Seymour Church of Christ.

Erna Lee was a story teller. Her family enjoyed the stories of her childhood in Sudan and Gilliland. She wrote a memoir of those days for them. She was devoted to her family, children, and grandchildren and enjoyed cooking their favorite foods, as well as playing games with them.

Erna Lee was preceded in death by her parents, husband, son Aaron (Ted Horne), brother Leonard Welch, and sister Winnie Welch Bailey.

Those to cherish her memory are her daughter Paula and husband Kenneth Smith of Austin, her daughter-in-law Josephine Horne of Seymour, Indiana, her sister Joyce W. Scott of Seymour, her sister-in-law Carolyn Welch of Vernon, and 3 grandchildren Melissa and husband Darrell Krebs, of Wichita Falls, Mike Smith of Oakland, California, and Stephen Smith of Austin. She is also blessed with great-grandson D.J. Moss of Wichita Falls and step great-granddaughter Bailey Krebs of Benton Arkansas as well as many loving nieces and nephews.

Although her Earthly existence has come to an end, she will live on in the hearts of her family for generations to come.

The family would like to thank Seymour Home Health, Texhoma Christian Care Center in Wichita Falls, and Hospice of Wichita Falls for the loving care they provided in Erna Lee’s later years.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations be made to Seymour Church of Christ or the Gilliland Cemetery, Crowell, Texas 79227.