Van Horn Info - Add Your Grad Year

This page was started as a help to the classes of '62-'68 for the multi-year reunion. It is now available to all years of graduates from Van Horn High School in Independence, Missouri. I am adding sections for each year as the yearbook and other information becomes available.

Van Horn opened in 1955 and the first class graduated in '56. When the school opened it was part of the Kansas City, Missouri School District and it continued as such until 2008 when Van Horn became a part of the Independence School District. Van Horn High School is located in Independence, Missouri on the northeast corner of Truman Road and Winner Road.

Van Horn colors are Red and Gray. I found the following and believe it is the school song. I don't know what the tune was that it was sung to:

Proudly as a Falcon wings his flight on high, Let our song be swelling upward to the sky, Sing we of our praises of the school most dear, We will spread the glory of Van Horn far and near. You have set dear Van Horn a challenge for us all. A height to strive and reach for, rising ne'er to fall. Let our hearts be true to the red and gray, Loyalty to thee we will show each day.

In 1962 the school motto was adopted "Dare to be wise".

NEWS Articles often give us some insight into the history and operation of Van Horn.

HMN Architects have done a fine job of redesigning Van Horn in many areas. This was a wonderful update to the building facilities done in 2002. The designer on the project was William Midgley. (As an interesting side note... Bill worked on Oak Park High School, built back in 1963, which was the high school that three of the Webmaster's daughters graduated from.) Quoted from the HMN web page:

"This existing 1950's urban high school was transformed into a science and technology magnet school with a 42,000 addition and 169,000 SF of remodeling. Completing the center courtyard with a four story double curved plan with high tech imagery, the addition makes a transitional non-static massing statement while reflecting the industrial character of the original brick and sheet metal clad building."

Site content...

The way I have set up the page each year has its own area. The first page links you to that area. All pages in a graduating year area use the leather from the yearbook as a background base and the logo for that year which appeared on the yearbook for a design. The default year is '67 (the year I graduated) and then the click on any one year changes to the theme from that year. Years that had no yearbook or years that I have not acquired a yearbook copy for yet will also default to the '67 theme.

As a point of interest statistically... as of September, 2002 the vanhorn.org site occupied some 783 megabytes of file space. It contained 38,934 files and 736 folders with over 50,000 links, all of which must be checked for accuracy and presentation. Class of '72 has participated the greatest amount with over 2/3 of their nearly 600 classmates being located and quite a presentation of reunion pictures.

Classmate: Any student that attended Van Horn. More particularly with relation to any one year, a student that attended class as a senior, with that graduation year. Sometimes a student didn't graduate, moved before graduation, quit school, or perhaps they just graduated right on time. Good enough for me... they are all classmates and will be included here when possible.

To set up a new year on these pages all I need is a yearbook from the year being added. I can scan in the pages, logo, and leather as time permits. I cut and paste the individual information for each student so that each student has a picture w/info available when you click on their name. I would also like a list of students that did not have pictures so we can at least list them. I am putting the junior year on for each year so that non-pictured seniors perhaps can be found in the previous year juniors. Additional info is presented and includes a status of one of four types:

I can also add a link to an individual personal web page if you want...

I do not put phone numbers on the internet, nor do I put addresses, etc. The above information will at least tell someone looking at the page whether they need to help us with an update on location information. This can of course be done through the email system or with direct contact to the coordinator. The cooperation of the class coordinator is an essential part of the web page and it is hoped that all will see the value of the page. Each coordinator represented will be listed with their contact phone number and a vhxx@vanhorn.org (xx=year of grad) email address. That address is redirected to the personal email of the coordinator which allows me to have a 'standard' email address for each coordinator, no matter who is currently handling the position.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or comments at webmaster@vanhorn.org. My name is Roy Timberman and I graduated in 1967. I owned an internet service for some 9 years and thus had some basic knowledge of what to do to produce this web page. I have no plans to make any money with this page. It is simply a fun thing that my wife says I spend to much time on. I do other web pages for fun and have a personal one up at www.timberman.com (leads to other of my web pages are at that web site).

Deceased:	Classmate is deceased - Date, Time, Location of death if available.
Unknown:	Classmate information and current status is not known.
Located:	Additional information has been noted. Contact class coordinator.
Email address:	Last known email address if available.