In Memory of Henry Horne Jr. (1931-2017)

I knew Henry Horne Jr. for a few months of his 86 years on Earth, but he left an impression strong enough for me to decide to dedicate this venture to him. I met Henry in the late 1990s as part of a Sister Cities trip, representing the City of Toledo, Ohio, which was creating a connection to Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Henry was one of 12 in our party, as we toured a country still recovering from a civil war that killed at least 100,000 people. Many of the homes of Muslims were still unrepaired – they sat empty, roofless, and desolate. While our group was there representing a Midwestern city's interests, Henry was collecting information for his work to secure democracy and security for the Bosnian people. He wasn't loud about it. He did much more listening than talking. A few years after we visited Bosnia, I heard from Henry: Would I accompany him to help him shoot a video of an abandoned Bosnian minefield? It was then that I learned the scope of his involvement with the United Nations' Adopt-a-Minefield effort, which he lead.

We returned in the fall of 2001, reunited with our translator, Dalibor Kesic, and somehow located a minefield in a snow-covered field in Cifluk – a small village in western Bosnia, between Banja Luka and Mostar. (Henry and the group from Toledo visited Mostar in the late 1990s.)

And here we were – about four feet from a minefield, on a one-way road that was also blanketed in snow. We piled out of our rental, I set up the tripod, and handed Henry the mic.

As I attempted to focus the camera lens on him, it should have occurred to me: I was looking at a man who had literally traveled to the end of the Earth for his cause.

Henry said his piece, and a half hour – and a harrowing U-turn – later, we were headed back home. I had taken notes, and used those to write a related piece for the Houston Chronicle, which Henry sent me through the mail.

I’m not sure what happened to that video footage. I didn't hear from Henry after that. Fourteen years later, he would be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Houston Chapter of the United Nations Association for his work in social justice. Henry supported democracy in Bosnia as an elections supervisor. He was active with the League of Women Voters in his hometown of Houston, and he helped organize local and state political conventions.

It wasn't until after his passing in 2017, and I read his obit​, that I learned about his advocacy for democracy.

Henry had crammed so much good into his life. I’m glad I could lighten his burden, if only it was to help him carry his video camera. It's in that spirit of helping that Dave Moore Media was founded.

 

Those who would like to donate to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which has succeeded the U.N. Adopt-A-Minefield program, can click here.

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Dave Moore

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