Hillsboro, OR - Thomas Steven Horning, age 72, passed away on May 29, 2026 and will be profoundly missed.

He was born in Seaside, OR to John Croft Horning and Barbara Baker Horning on March 18, 1954. His father was employed as a statistician by Crown Zellerbach. In his early years Tom and his family lived in the forested hills just east of Seaside at the former Crown Zellerbach headquarters and logging camp known locally as Crown Camp. After moving briefly to Milwaukee, OR in 1959, his newly widowed mother moved Tom and his siblings back to Seaside and worked as a nurse at the local hospital to support her family. Tom grew up in the Venice Park neighborhood and discovered more about nature, estuaries, and the environment on the banks of Neawanna Creek.

Tom attended school in Seaside, and after graduation from Seaside High School he was off to college. After first studying Nuclear Engineering and Chemistry at OSU, Tom discovered his true passion was for Geology. He changed his major, first earning a Bachelor's then a Master's degree.

Upon successfully defending his Master's thesis, Tom was employed by several companies as an exploration/economic geologist, prospecting all over the Western Hemisphere from Peru to British Columbia and east as far as Pennsylvania and Georgia, locating and assessing natural resources - industrial minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.

After living a nomadic lifestyle for years, Tom began to miss Seaside and decided to move back to his childhood home, which he eventually came to share with his wife Kirsten. They met while Tom was teaching Geology at Clatsop Community College part-time, and she was on the staff. Simultaneously Tom opened his own geological consulting business, Horning Geosciences, identifying and helping to mitigate present and future geological hazards, such as erosion and landslides.

Tom loved his hometown of Seaside but soon was not content simply writing geologic hazard reports for clients. By then scientists had identified a major fault lying off the Pacific Northwest coast: the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Tom was ideally suited, by education and disposition, to become a leading voice urging the community to take earthquake and tsunami preparation seriously. Throughout his career Tom kept abreast of significant breakthroughs and current insights surrounding the subduction zone and collaborated with colleagues on scholarly articles and research. He often shared his memories of the tsunami of 1964 resulting from the Great Alaska earthquake and recounted how it nearly swept him and his brother out to sea as it surged into the Necanicum River and up Neawanna Creek surrounding his family home. The focus of his stories was education and safety. His goal was to save lives.

Tom Horning was a remarkable individual, a rare combination of intelligence, wit, good nature, and decency. If you've heard the saying (attributed to Malcolm Forbes) "He who dies with the most toys wins.", in Tom's world view it was, "He who dies with the most friends wins." He was always willing to start a conversation with a newcomer to the area or to tell one of his many jokes. He strongly believed in participation, contribution, and being of service - sharing his knowledge and skills with the community. The list of organizations that Tom volunteered for was lengthy. He served on the board of the Seaside Native American Project, was Planning Commissioner for the City of Seaside for many years, was on the Tsunami Advisory Group, was elected as a Seaside City Councilor for two terms, and he was very involved with the Sunset Empire Parks & Recreation District.

The organization that he valued the most, however, was the North Coast Land Conservancy. Tom came by his love of forests and conservation on both paternal and maternal sides of the family. His grandfather Walter Harold Horning was appointed the first Bureau of Land Management Regional Administrator in the Pacific Northwest and later became the Chief Forester for the BLM in Washington D.C., while his grandfather Frederick Storrs Baker was a professor of Forestry at the University of California at Berkeley and authored a well-respected text on the Principles of Silviculture.

So, when Tom was asked to join the North Coast Land Conservancy Board of Directors in 1996, it seemed entirely natural to him. In his 30+ year relationship with the group, Tom served on nearly every committee, and held several offices, President, Vice-President, Secretary. The Conservancy was very important to him, and he rarely missed an opportunity to promote the Land Conservancy's vision and accomplishments and to encourage its support.

Tom's passing will be deeply felt by family, friends, and colleagues.

Tom was preceded in death by his father, John Horning and his mother, Barbara Baker Jensen. Surviving him are his wife Kirsten Horning of Seaside, sister Lynne (Steve) Holmes of Hood River, sister Judy (John) Shaw of Portland, brother John Horning of Seaside, brother David (Jan) Horning of Olney. Nieces and nephews include Jerrit (Kris) Jolma, Jodi (Rob) Beard, Jonathan (Karen) Shaw,

Eric (Kylie) Horning, Wade (Kalla) Horning, Joanna Holmes, Andy (Jessica) Holmes, Ben (Samantha) Holmes, Barbara (Aaron) Baker. Tom was also great-uncle to numerous nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, July 18th from 12 -4 at the North Coast Land Conservancy Center 32825 Rippet Road, Seaside, OR. Contributions in Tom's memory may be made to the North Coast Land Conservancy or the South County Community Food Bank.