Marjorie Joy Horn

I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother Marjorie Joy Horn. As I was growing up, I referred to her as "grouchy grandma", but that was only because we kids were often babysat by grandma and we tended to get on her nerves! We were quite a bunch. That bunch consisted of my uncle Danny's boys: Danny Ray Waltz Jr and Christopher James Waltz; my aunt Sue's daughter Shawn Noel Waltz; myself and my two siblings Amanda Joann Poland and Matthew Scott Poland. 

In truth, I have a lot of really good memories of grandma. 

Grandma Waltz (as we used to call her) liked to dress up like a clown. I so wish I had photos of her in her clown costume. We lived across from the Assumption Catholic Church that my Aunt attended. Every year the church held a fish fry festival. Grandma would dress up like a clown and entertain all the kids. 

I also remember the time she surprised me with a birthday party. She met me at the front door when I arrived. She had construction paper signs that I had to read as she walked backwards through the house. We I got to the last sign, we were at the back door and there was a party in the backyard!

Grandma loved animals. There were always several cats and at least 1 dog. 

Marjorie Joy Horn was born November 3, 1925. She was the youngest of 10 children born to Charles Walter and Susan Mable (Henninger) Horn. Marjorie married Billie Gerald Waltz on January 17, 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Marjorie and Billie divorced sometime before 1966 and she never remarried. Marjorie worked at the Yellow Cab Company for several years as a dispatcher and spent all her free time taking care of her children and grandchildren. 

When Atari came out, grandma would fight with us kids to get her turn at it. She was good at it too!

Grandma was a smoker. She loved her Pall Mall reds non-filtered. They got her in the end. She died on April 19, 1988 at the age of 62.