Hamilton Cowles Horton Jr.

Hamilton Cowles Horton Jr., 74, a lifelong resident of Winston-Salem, devoted husband, father, uncle, member of Calvary Moravian Church and member of the North Carolina Senate, died peacefully Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 31, 2006, in his home. Born Aug. 6, 1931, he was the second child and only son of Virginia Lee Wiggins Horton and Hamilton Cowles Horton. Mr. Horton served his first terms in the N.C. General Assembly in the 1960s and early '70s, first as a Republican representative from Forsyth County in the State House from 1969 to 1970 and subsequently as senator from Forsyth County for two terms in the N.C. Senate from 1971 to 1975 when he was Joint Caucus Leader. He served as president of the National Committee to Save the New River from 1975 to 1976. From 1977 to 1978, he served in Washington, D.C., as Chief of Staff for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. In 1994, he re-entered the political arena while still practicing law and was re-elected, serving five more terms in the N.C. Senate from 1995 to the present time. He was selected by the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers Association as Legislator of the Year and served as president of the Forsyth County Bar Association from 1989 to 1990. Educated in the public schools in his home community, he graduated in 1949 from Reynolds High School and in 1953 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and president of the student body. He received his LLB in 1956 from UNC Law School, where he was selected as a Morehead Scholar. He attended the Universite of Grenoble in France and the Universitat of Salzburg, Austria, during the summers of 1950 and 1952, and he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1960. An avid gardener, conservationist and preservationist, as well as an amateur historian, craftsman and broad-based reader, Mr. Horton was the recipient of the Preservation North Carolina's Gertrude Carraway Award and was recently nominated to the N.C. Republican Party Hall of Fame for his outstanding leadership and service to the Fifth Congressional District. He was named a Paul Harris Fellow by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. He was a founding member of Piedmont Craftsmen Inc. Mr. Horton served on various agencies and boards of the Moravian Church Southern Province, including chairman of the Archives Board, and had played in the Moravian Easter Band for 68 years. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Evelyn Moore Horton; a daughter, Rosalie Hanes Horton; three nieces, Lee Hanes Moore of Raleigh; Virginia Ellen Hoke of Mableton, Ga.; and Candice Hoke-Taylor of Cleveland, Ohio; four nephews, Thomas Owen Moore III and Robertson LaFar Moore of Winston-Salem, Eric Hamilton Hoke of Apex and Harold Reid Hoke Jr. of Beaufort; four great-nephews, Thomas Owen Moore IV, George Bennett Moore, David Robertson LaFar Moore of Winston-Salem and Trent Holden Taylor of Cleveland, Ohio; and two great-nieces, Elizabeth Archer Moore of Winston-Salem and Juliette Allison Hoke of Paris, France. Visitation for family and friends will be from 4 to 6 p.m. today, Feb. 3, at Vogler's on Main Street. A service of celebration of Brother Horton's life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, at Calvary Moravian Church, 600 Holly Ave., with burial in God's Acre, Old Salem. The family wishes to thank the many friends and neighbors who have been so attentive to their needs at this time, as well as Dr. Allston Stubbs, Dr. Eugene Paschold and Dr. Richard Stevenson; Sandra Bryson of Hospice; and caregivers Valerie Huffin and Sandy Swain for their many kindnesses. The family requests that memorials be made to Calvary Moravian Church, 600 Holly Ave., Winston-Salem, NC 27101; the Pastor's Discretionary Fund; The Moravian Music Foundation; and/or the Moravian Archives of the Southern Province, 459 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101. (Vogler's Main Street Chapel)