The funeral service for Louis “Luge” Max Horning will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, October 5, 2008, at the Wakita Methodist Church, Wakita, Oklahoma. Rev Kyle Anderson will officiate. Arrangements are being handled by Blackwell Funeral Home. Burial will be at the Wakita Cemetery.

Louis was born on December 20, 1917 on his father’s Cherokee Strip homestead (SE28-28-7) to Charles and Lillian (Mitchell) Horning and died on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at home in Wakita.

He attended rural grade school at Mt. Zion and went on to graduate from Gore High School in 1935. Louis started his farming career in 1936. Louis was a World War II veteran, enlisting in the U.S. Navy on December 20, 1941. He completed basic training at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. He was an Aviation Chief of Maintenance (ACMM) (USN 3510174) and served at Marshall, Mariana and Johnston Islands.  He also served with the Occupation Forces to liberate and evacuate American POWs in Japan. Louis received an honorable discharge in late 1946 at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

Louis returned to farming in Wakita in 1946. He married Bertha L. Smith, Daughter of Roy and Pauline Smith, on August 15, 1948.  To this marriage, three children were born: Catharine Lillian (Horning) Seely, Jeannie Kay Horning, and Roy Phillip Horning.

Along with farming, Louis was Crew Chief of aircraft maintenance on the B-52 and T-33 aircraft at Vance Air Force Base in Enid from 1955-60. He was then employed by the City of Wakita as City Maintenance Manager from 1960-73.

Louis was a long-time member of the Wakita United Methodist Church.

He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, two sisters, Ida and Bess, and four brother, Charles (Chuck), Ralph, Clifford (Bill) and Edward. He is survived by his children, Cathy Seely and husband, James, McKinney, TX; Jeannie Horning, Wakita; and Roy Horning, Wakita; two grandchildren, Jason Seely and wife Leeanna, Dallas, TX; and Lauren Seely, Washington, DC., along with a host of extended family members and friends.

Memorials may be made to Hospice Circle of Love, Wakita Methodist Church, or Wakita Educational Foundation.