A car crash on a San Pablo freeway ripped a father and son away from a Napa household. But on Sunday, several hundred people joined the surviving family of Daryl and Joe Horn to remember them and the people they touched – and to show their loved ones need not grieve alone.
Packing the bleachers of the Vintage High School gymnasium and more than 400 seats on the basketball hardwood, relatives, friends and acquaintances gathered at a public memorial to remember Daryl, 50, and his 14-year-old youngest child, Joe – including those who had received baseball coaching from the father, or played ball or gone to school with his son.
At a lectern between two easel-mounted photos of father and son, Daryl Horn’s wife Denise spoke of “my sweet boy Joe” and his ability to “enjoy every moment of every day,” then turned to the special touch her husband had as a longtime youth baseball coach in Napa, preparing athletes for much more than sporting excellence.
“My husband’s true gift was in coaching, (in) correlating everything into life lessons,” she said. “He could show young boys and girls how to be the best people they could be. He had his Daryl-isms: ‘Be a good citizen,’ which he said a lot – ‘Always pick up your neighbor’ – and my favorite saying of his, ‘Baseball doesn’t develop character; it reveals character.’
“I can see the character of my husband in this community now. He may have lived in Napa for only 15 years, but when I look around this room, I can see that he’s left a mark.”
“We have a long way to go, but you have all placed us on the path toward healing.”
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At Napa memorial, Horn family remembers lives and friendships of father and son
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