Phyllis Horner, longtime local, 1946-2004
Phyllis Riley Horner, a longtime Vail resident, died Dec. 19 after an 18-year battle with cancer. Horner lived in Vail full-time from 1968 to 1983 and part-time thereafter.
Horner was born in St. Louis, where she attended the John Burroughs School. She went to Wheaton College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1968 with an arts degree.
After graduating, she moved to Vail and worked with her brother, Ron, in a variety of jobs from bookstore manager, restaurant hostess and bookkeeper.
She was an avid hiker, runner and skier and occasional golfer, friends and family members say. For many years, she was a hostess for the Jerry Ford Invitation Golf Tournament.
She married Wes Horner in 1983 and moved to Denver. The couple had two daughters, Jessica and Abigail. Horner became a pre-school teacher and an active member of the Wellshire Presbyterian Church.

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The family vacationed each year in Leland, Mich. and spent many summer weekends at their condominium in East Vail. Friends and family say Horner never forgot a birthday, loved the Peanuts characters and never went a day without laughing.
Along with her husband, daughters and brother, Horner is survived by her three sisters, Donna Hearne, Ruth Grote and Peggy Weber.
Services are 2 p.m., Saturday, at the Wellshire Presbyterian Church in Denver. Memorial contributions can be made to the Diana Price-Fish Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 22919, Denver, CO, 80222 or Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado, Denver, CO, 80222.
Vail Colorado