Jane T. Horney, 99, of Pensacola, FL, passed away Friday, August 23, 2024, at Azalea Trace Retirement Community.

Jane was born on July 12, 1925, in Vineland, NJ to M. Robert and Hazel (Sauer) Trimnell. Tragically, her father died as a result of an infection in 1936 when she was only 10 and her brother "Bobby", was 13. After his death, the family struggled to keep their home in those Depression years by raising chickens and eggs for a local hatchery. There was a "sweet potato house" on their property, where the local farmers stored their crops, and the family was free to help themselves. Jane always said that her mother should've written a book on 1000 and 1 sweet potato recipes! When Jane was in high school in Vineland, NJ, she met William "Bill" Horney at a youth group Halloween party at the Episcopal Church. Jane was a life-long Episcopalian. Bill Horney went to the Presbyterian Church in Vineland, however the Episcopalians had the best intramural basketball team, so he went to their youth group in order to be on the team. He saw Jane across the room at the party and asked someone who that brunette was. When they told him that she was "Bobby Trimnell's little sister", he exclaimed: "That's his little sister!" So, that was the beginning of their story. With Pearl Harbor, Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was sent to England as a navigator on B-24's. Jane attended a year of college at Douglass College for Women (now part of Rutgers University.) She then went with her mother to North Jersey to work as clerks at Belle Meade Depot where they were shipping supplies overseas to the troops in Europe. Bill and Jane had agreed that "if he came home" they would get married. After his combat tour, he returned stateside and they were married on December 4, 1944, at St. John's Episcopal Church in Somerville, NJ. After a brief honeymoon in New York City, they traveled west for Bill to be trained on B-29's on various bases before heading to the Pacific. They were in Boise, ID, when, thankfully, the bomb was dropped. Bill remained in the service for ten years and many times during this period they were separated, with him stationed at unaccompanied locations. Jane then would return to New Jersey on the train and stay with her mother and second husband, Robert Welsh, on their turkey farm in Hunterdon County. Bill was stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines when she was given permission to join him. At that point they'd been separated for six months while he was in Alaska. By the time she reached the Philippines after 21 days on the ship, his squadron had been assigned for six months in Germany for the Berlin Airlift. They ended up staying almost three years at Clark Field and their daughter, Martha Jane, was born there in 1950. By 1953, Bill decided to leave the service, and they returned home to Vineland, NJ where he was able to get a job with a glass company he had worked for before the war. This company became part of Owens-Illinois Glass Company in Toledo, OH, where the family moved in 1958. While there, Jane decided to take advantage of the classes at the Toledo Art Museum and signed up to learn oil painting. This began a hobby that she enjoyed for more than 50 years. In 1961, Bill and Jane adopted a son, Michael Jeffrey. In 1964 they were transferred to Hampton, NH, on the New England coast and Jane found a new art teacher. The whole family loved that location, and its' scenery was the subject of many of Jane's landscape paintings. They returned to corporate headquarters in Toledo a few years later, where they remained until Bill's retirement in 1979. The last few years there, they had been hunting for a retirement location. They settled on Hilton Head Island, SC and built their last house. Bill played a lot of golf and Jane continued to paint, enjoying having some ocean scenery again for inspiration. They both decided they were tired of the work and responsibility of owning a home and went searching for a senior retirement place, in the south and near the beach. They settled on Pensacola and Azalea Trace and moved into their top floor apartment there in 1988. And they found a new church home with Christ Episcopal Church. Again, there was more golf for Bill, but for Jane there was time to seriously paint in an art room where she could leave her easel up, plus not have to stop to fix meals or do housework. She also finally had the time to renew her love of sewing and she became the head of the sewing room there. She was an expert seamstress. She discovered another benefit at her new home: the Azalea Trace Library, as Jane was an avid reader, especially mysteries. She and Bill made many friends at Azalea Trace, especially enjoying the fact that so many residents there had also served in the military and so could relate to the kind of vagabond life they had lived. In fact, on their 20th anniversary, they realized that at that point they had moved 20 times in their marriage! Jane always said that she was so glad that they had made the decision to move there and to feel that they would always be taken care of. This was especially important to her after Bill's death in 2013. She was able to remain in her apartment and live independently until the last nine months of her life. In fact, she had the record of the longest-term resident in independent living at Azalea Trace, 36 years. Jane had a sweet spirit, and you would never have heard her say anything negative about a person. She was almost always positive, despite many times of hardship and heartache of her life, especially the loss of two infant children. If you ever told her about a difficulty in your life, she would instead remind you of the good things you had or how things turned out for the best in the long run.

Jane is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bill; her brother, Robert Trimnell and his wife, Virginia; her nephew, Michel Trimnell; and two infant children.

Jane is survived by her daughter, Martha Jane Curtis (Bill), of Foley, AL; one grandson, Seth Curtis (Kate), of Lakeland, MN; her son, Michael; her granddaughter, Nicole, both Columbia, SC; her great-grandchildren, Paige, Levi, and Simon Curtis, of Lakeland, MN; as well as her nieces, Liesl Trimnell, of Boston, MA, and Patricia Trimnell Doss, of Washington, DC, and their families.

A graveside service will be held at 2:30pm Friday, September 6, 2024, at Barrancas National Cemetery (Committal Shelter B). For those wishing to attend, a funeral cortege will depart Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel at 2:00pm sharp.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, 18 W. Wright St., Pensacola, FL 32501 or a charity of choice.

The family wants to express their thanks to the staff of Willowbrook Court at Azalea Trace for caring for Jane in her last months. They would like to also express their gratitude and gratefulness to Emerald Coast Hospice and their nurses, Jennifer and Rae, for their loving kindness to Jane and help and support for her daughter during this difficult time.