Kaleb Charles Horton

June 14, 1988 - September 23, 2025 Kaleb Charles Horton, a writer from Bakersfield, California, died Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at his home in Los Angeles of complications from a seizure. He was 37 years old. He was widely regarded as one of the most talented writers of his generation.
A writer's writer, his work, known for a sparse and elegiac prose style that awed readers and peers including his eulogies for writers, musicians and comedians, including John Prine, Charles Portis, Norm MacDonald, and Merle Haggard.His reverie on Haggard, a fellow son of Bakersfield, exemplifies the core of his writing and photography: the ghosts of the Central Valley, the gritty places and life lived in the margins.
Kaleb's faith was foundational to his character. He wanted to know and be close to God. He considered himself a Presbyterian. Quiet about his faith, Kaleb was more likely to share about his love of Harry Dean Stanton or Tom Petty than about his daily prayer, meditation, and biblical study. Known to friends and acquaintances as gentle, kind and measured, while also absurdly funny, smart, and informed by a deep love of music and comedy. He was a generous listener, not just to his subjects but to his friends and strangers on the street. He held a deep respect for people forgotten by the economy and traditional media, and while this shone through in his writing, it was also revealed in his personal interactions.
At the time of his death, Kaleb was in love and full of future plans. Friends for more than a decade, he and Katharine (who he called Katie) adored one another and delighted in finishing each other's sentences. In June, he asked her to take his last name, and she said yes.
Born on June 14, 1988 in Bakersfield to William Horton and Deborah Horton (née Cox), Kaleb was a precocious child. His fondest memories are of his grandparents in Bakersfield, Donna and Thomas Cox. He became an older brother three times, and took that role seriously. He was especially thrilled by his youngest brother Sam, who he called Scotty, born when he was 18. Kaleb doted on Sam and was often mistaken for his father. In 1998, the family moved to Redding, California. Sharply intelligent and deeply curious, he was home schooled until high school, where he dual-enrolled in the local college. He started his writing career with a paid position with the college's paper. One assignment required him to write a short biography in the third person. In it, he said, "Kaleb Horton wants to be remembered for being honest, kind and dextrous. He also wants to be remembered for having a mind like a rusting and malfunctioning steel trap." He attended Pepperdine University. Kaleb wrote for publications such as Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, MTV News, Slate, Vox, and Vice News. In 2017, he married Marie Bertonneau. Their divorce was pending at the time of his death.
Kaleb is survived by his mother, Deborah Horton, his father, William Horton, younger brothers Gabe (Katrina), Daniel, and Sam Horton, his step-father Brian Rice, his partner Katharine Hudson, his spouse Marie Bertonneau, as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are all devastated, bereft of his humor and genius. As Kaleb wrote in 2016, "All you've got is memory, a place where you can't live." A memorial service will be held Thursday, October 9th at 3:00 PM at Silver Lake Community Church in Los Angeles. A private graveside service to inter him next to his grandparents in Bakersfield will follow at a later date.