Florence Horton, 83, music and children were her life-long interests

She was born October 25, 1918 on an apple ranch near Portland, Oregon. She was the first child of Ellen (nee Starbird) and Gifford Mills Uptegrove. The family returned East when she was 5 years old and settled in Maplewood, NJ. The family was completed with the addition of her brother William and her sister Elizabeth.

Florence attended the college preparatory Buxton School and continued her education at Bennington College. She was a double major- Music and Early Education. Music and children were to be her abiding, life-long interests.

She also graduated from the Smith College Navy Communications School. She them served as a US Navy Wave Lieutenant j g during WWII in the Navy Communications Sections stationed on the Mall in Washington, D.C. She handled Navy fleet messages with occasional duty as the White House Navy office.

She worked at "Parents Magazine" and taught nursery school briefly in Maplewood and Berea, Ohio until she and her husband John began their own family.

Mrs. Horton had a trained musicians' ability to sustain a line whenever she was reading aloud making her stories especially appealing. She insinuated music and movements into daily life, often playing the piano at bedtime.

She had an inquisitive and insightful mind with a wide range of interests and a personal ethic of giving to her community. She was active in the local League of Women Voters and sang in the church choir for decades. She also volunteered as a Girl Scout leader and with Meals on Wheels for several years.

She is survived by her husband of 55 years, John L. Horton, her son John B. Horton of Detroit, daughters Elizabeth Reed of Underhill, VT and Barbara Chaloupka of Chardon, OH, and 2 grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held June 17, 2002 at 3:00 p.m. at the Maplegrove Cemetery, Vermilion, Ohio. Riddle Funeral home handling arrangements.