Horne’s legacy lives on

WARNER ROBINS -- Ray Horne is still giving.

The former speech and drama teacher from Northside High School gave 50 years of his life to students, trying to make a difference in their lives. Now funds are being raised for the Ray Horne Scholarship at Northside. Horne planned for the scholarship and an estate sale to fund it before he died in January.

Part of the funds for the scholarship will come from donations, but the bulk of the money was expected to come from the sale of Horne’s possessions at an estate sale that took place this past weekend.

About 50 people were in line before the two-day sale kicked off at 8 a.m. Friday.

“Ninety-five percent of them were students and former teachers who wanted to take a memento of his,” said Horne’s friend of 50 years, Danny Peterman.

Former Northside Principal Ed Dyson was in his orange and blue NHS Eagles shirt and sat on Horne’s couch talking to friends.

Inside the house, Horne’s collection of clowns was growing smaller. Most of the larger pieces of furniture were gone by Friday afternoon.

The collection of musical CDs took almost an entire room. The garage was filled with wreaths and Christmas decorations.

“It’s been very steady all day,” said Michelle Swanson of Countryside Estate Sales, based out of Fort Valley. Although she never met Horne, the month she spent working on pricing items in the house gave her insight into the man he was.

“You can tell he loved Northside. He was completely dedicated to (the school),” she said.

The Northside theater program, under Horne, won many local, state and national honors, and the school’s performing arts theater is named for him. Horne also was inducted into the Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and International Thespian halls of fame.

Though the estate sale total won’t be available for another week, Peterman is hopeful the auction will bring in enough money to fund the Ray Horne Scholarship for years to come.

“Isn’t it interesting that he is still helping kids... to get their education kicked off,” Peterman said.

Donations can be mailed to H.E.A. Federal Credit Union, 121 Osigian Blvd., Warner Robins, Ga. 31088.

This article includes information from The Telegraph archives.

This story was originally published August 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Horne’s legacy lives on."