Alan James Horn

Alan James Horn of Macomb, MO, passed away on September 2, 2026 in St. Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, MO after a year of battling abdominal cancer. He fought the good fight and is now at rest in the Lord.

Alan was born to Tony and Helen (Kluiber) Horn in Chicago, IL on August 24, 1947. He has 3 brothers and 1 sister: Peter Horn, Andrew Horn, April Horn, and Paul Horn. He and his wife had no children. He was nicknamed Sparky by his Grandfather Anton Horn, who didn’t like the name Alan because he wanted him to be named after himself.

Anton was an electrician, Alan’s father, Tony, was an electrical engineer. So, Alan learned how to wire things at an early age. He would laugh about rigging a switch on the basement door that would turn off the TV that he was watching when he was supposed to be asleep. His grandmother or mother would hear the TV softly playing and open the door to check, and the TV would turn off and he would pretend to be asleep!

In 1961, the family moved to Creve Coeur, a suburb of St. Louis, MO. The family joined Parkway Baptist Church, and there Alan met the 11-year-old girl who would later become his wife, Rebecca (Becky) Lee Baker. They became friends very quickly, despite the three year difference in their ages. As time progressed, Alan and Becky would sing in the church choir, sing duets together, and enjoy time in the youth group activities, and take long walks together. Their parents also became friends and even bought a rural property together to enjoy on weekends when their children were all teenagers.

Alan attended Parkway High School and was active as a trombone player in the marching band and a member of the Audio/Visual Club. He went on to attend University of Missouri at Rolla, Missouri to study to become an Electrical Engineer. While in college, he was active in the Baptist Student Association and was the engineer for the student radio station, as well as sometimes being the DJ for the station. During the summers, he earned his fixed wing pilot’s license. (His parents said they would pay for the lessons if he would wait to get his auto driver’s license, because that would be cheaper than the auto insurance for him!) He also joined a sky diving club while in college.

After graduating from college on May 25, 1969, Alan immediately went to work for McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which merged with Douglas Aircraft Company. His father, Tony, worked for the same company and had arranged for Alan to do some summer work during college, so they were already familiar with his conscientious work ethic and skills. Alan’s summer job in college was to test automatic blood pressure cuffs for newborns. The technology had come out of the space program. Alan’s first job for McDonnell after college was to do calculations for the curvature of the earth to be used in the software for the Air Force Helmet Targeting System where the jet pilot could look at a target through a helmet site and the software would aim the armament correctly at the target. (This was during the Vietnam War.)

On July 11, 1970, Alan and Becky were married in the church where they had grown up together. They had an amazing married relationship that celebrated its 56th year this past July. Alan told her early in their marriage that he considered his highest calling by God not to be his career, but to help her become the best person she could be. He nursed her through years of bad health and helped her accomplish amazing things despite the illness. She always says that he spoiled her rotten, but always in a way that made her a better version of herself. And she tried to be the best “helpmate” to him that she could in making a home for them both.

They started life renting a 3rd floor apartment in the 100-year-old house of Becky’s parents while they saved up for a house. During that time, Becky finished her last 2 years of college and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972. They were able to buy their first house in 1973 in Manchester, MO. Alan had been taught many skills by his father and was able to do projects around the house from carpentry, concrete and brick work, plumbing, plastering and painting, and, of course, electrical wiring. He was a jack of all trades and good at all of them. If he didn’t know how to do something, he would research how to do it or find a good mentor.

During the time in Manchester, Alan continued working for McDonnell Douglas on various projects and then for a short time for Monsanto Chemical Company, designing a redundant computer system for them.

He also built an experimental helicopter in the walkout basement! He learned all about welding, engines, transmissions, etc. during that project. By completion, he realized the design had the flaw of not enough power to be safe, so he dismantled it and sold the parts to men who had built their own version and already crashed them so they knew the risks. He then bought a Brantley B2B helicopter from a doctor friend who was certified to teach him how to fly helicopters. He earned his private and commercial helicopter license. He learned even more about servicing a “real” helicopter by watching the airport mechanics working on his ship. He had a lot of fun flying and treating the family to rides.

Over the years, Alan’s work as an electrical systems engineer took them to many jobs in many states across the USA. He had a talent of being able to look at a whole system and how all aspects worked together, rather than seeing each piece of the system individually. He said he liked to design top down and bottom up at the same time and have them meet in the middle with a system that worked. He was also so familiar with how the electronics, software, and mechanical systems worked that he was able to see how they needed to work together to solve a problem or create a new application.

His skill meant he never had to look long to find a new opportunity for work, and it was not unusual for him to work as consultant to several companies at the same time. He worked on projects ranging from military airplane systems to systems for satellites to control systems for electric vehicles, and much, much more. They often had to move for the work, but every place they moved, he made sure to at least rent a nice place for them to live. More often he bought a house and then customized it to please Becky and make it a home.

At the time of his death, he was still working as a consultant to two companies, Phillips Aerospace in California with co-owners Don McKenna and Randy Dunn and Electric Power Systems in Utah with co-owners Nathan Millecam and Randy Dunn. He had helped both of these companies when they were starting and they continued to give him projects after he retired.

Here is what Randy shared about Alan: Al was the finest example of a human being I ever had the pleasure to know. I was fortunate to know Al for over 34 years. He was a mentor, spiritual guide, even a father figure at times to me. His legacy will live on in the amazing engineering inventions he pioneered and in the minds of all those he touched. Most of all, I will always remember the great jokes, and his ability to “spin a yarn” the way only Al could. Love you, miss you. – Randy

Don shared: Al was a gentleman and a scholar. He will be missed.

Nathan shared: I just loved working with Alan. He taught me so much and helped me and so many others develop into what we are today.

There were plenty of fun times through the years, too. In addition to flying, Alan and Becky learned to scuba dive, took long hikes, climbed a 12,000-foot mountain in Albuquerque and had many wonderful trips and cruises together. They both loved the outdoors and went on camping and canoeing trips in their younger years. They also loved history and museums. Recently they were watching WWII documentaries on streaming, especially some of the creative inventions that came out of the war.

Friday sundown to Saturday sundown was for keeping the Sabbath and worshipping the Father and learning from the example of the Messiah. It was also a time of reviewing their lives and planning what was next to become better people and to improve their stewardship of what God had blessed them with. These days of rest from the everyday work were very special.

When Alan retired in 2016, they bought a rural property that consisted of a house, 10 acres of pasture and 15 acres of woods in Macomb, MO. Alan immediately started completely remodeling the house into Becky’s dream home, complete with an amazing sewing studio for her quilting and crafts and a large office so he could continue doing the engineering he loved. After 10 years of work, it has become an amazing home that both Alan and Becky have loved and never want to leave. He arranged everything to be accessible so they could grow old comfortably in the home.

Since Alan had family and friends all over the country with busy lives and schedules, he requested that we not have a formal funeral or memorial service. To honor his memory, he hoped family and friends who were close to each other in distance would gather as convenient in time and place and enjoy a dinner sharing memories and fellowshipping together.

He wished that if any wanted to comfort and support Becky as his wife, that they would contact her by email in the next year as convenient and arrange to visit his country home to be with Becky, and see the home he built and share a meal or two and share memories with her. He built a guest suite that could be used or there are 3 hotels in Mountain Grove, MO, that is about 20 minutes from the house.

Becky’s email is rlhorn@ajhorn.com. Becky will also appreciate emails, cards, or notes from those who wish to share a memory. You can email her for the address, if needed.

To honor him, rather than donations, follow his example. Lend a helping hand or a listening ear without judgment to someone who needs it. Teach someone a new skill or tell them a funny story. Show respect and kindness to everyone you come across in your day, and give lots of love every day to your family.