Our story begins with Tom Horton, who was born in Salem in 1910. During high school, this star baseball player (is that where Shawn-Douglas gets it?!) met the lovely and intelligent Alice Grayson, who was a year younger than him. Despite her reticence, Tom pursued Alice and eventually drew her out. They were married in 1930, a few years after she graduated high school, in a small civil ceremony.

After serving in World War II, Tom went on to become a successful and respected physician, a professor at Salem University Medical School and the Chief of Staff at University Hospital. Alice was loving mother to twins Tommy Jr. and Addie, Mickey, Bill and Marie. And the family just continued to grow! Mike and Jennifer, Melissa and Jessica, Julie, Steven, Sandy; David and Scotty Banning, Lucas Roberts, Shawn-Douglas and Zack, Will Reed and Abby and Jack Deveraux Jr. And your most devoted granddaughters, Hope and Jennifer Rose. Through it all, Alice Grayson Horton has been mother to us all, as well as the backbone, the faith, the moment of grace and forgiveness when we needed it most. Sometimes, all we needed was a warm plate of doughnuts and you provided that, too.

For you, then, we have put this little tribute together. You may be our matriarch, but you’re nothing if not a with-it kind of gal, so we know you’ll appreciate this modern kind of family history. It’s about you and it’s for you. If not for you, the Horton family might have disappeared, broken up, fallen apart, many, many times over the years. You are the Horton family. And, just like this website, we will continue for many years to come.