Horace Adrian Krizan, 89, took the final walk home on September 7, 2024. He passed peacefully, after deeply grieving the loss of his late wife, Elaine, who preceded him by 10 months. He will be laid to rest in a private burial beside her in Haven Hill Cemetery, as he fervently wished.
Horace was born May 20, 1935 in Lubbock, Texas, to the late Harry Anton Krizan and Imogene Stanley Krizan. Horace was the eldest of three children, with a younger sister, the late Harriett Kay Parker, born in 1940, and a younger brother, Harry Lynn Krizan, born in 1947. He attended Lubbock High School with Buddy Holly, whom he was proud to have played with in the school talent show. But more important to him was that he met the love of his life there, and they were married shortly after graduating, on September 3, 1955. Horace and Elaine remained married for 68 years.
Horace was an intensely private and fiercely independent man, whose diverse life included service in the Marine Reserves, attending Texas Tech, Abilene Christian College, the Louisville Baptist Theological Seminary, and the University of Louisville. He was proud of his work ethic, from picking cotton as a young child, to early hours working in a bakery to put himself through college, and the 29 years he served as a high school teacher of math and physics in Jefferson County Public Schools.
Horace loved music, playing the banjo, guitar, fiddle and harmonica by ear. He also loved nature, gardening, home cooking and strong coffee. His passion was both storytelling and reading; his library shelves overflowed with books on nearly every topic.
In the end, Horace found peace as he returned to the source of all nature, wisdom, and love—a place where stories are endless, and the music of life plays on forever.
Survivors include one daughter, Stacey Renee Ruth of Roswell, Georgia and one brother, Lynn Krizan of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Grissom-Martin Funeral Home in charge of arrangements
