Betty & Harry Horne
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Career diplomat Harry Horne decided not to give his wife flowers for her birthday. Flowers die, he said.
Instead he gave her a gift that would last forever — he contributed another $27,000 in her honor to the Middle Tennessee State University Foundation, rounding up the Harry J. and Betty Lewter Horne Endowed Scholarship to $50,000. The earnings from the endowment will provide scholarships to students in the Department of Political Science.
Horne, a native of Canada, served four years in the U.S. Army, followed by a 35-year stint in the Foreign Service as a Canadian diplomat.
“And I made my fortune teaching as an adjunct professor at MTSU,” he quipped.
“I like to say Harry is a registered alien,” interjected Betty, his wife of 30 years. “And he’s an ‘adjunk.’”
“I always wanted to live in a place with four seasons, good medical facilities and good transportation,” he said, referring to middle Tennessee. “Oh, yes, and Betty’s from here,” he added with a laugh.
Harry taught political science at MTSU from 1983 to 1990.
“(Former MTSU President) Sam Ingram and I were having lunch, and he asked me if I would like to teach at MTSU. He told me they never had anyone teaching international relations who had experience abroad. I told him, ‘You’re on.’ That was the nicest thing that ever happened to me because I still have contacts at the university. I get invited to things, and I enjoy mixing with the students.
“I have a couple of degrees, and no one gave them to me,” he noted. “I worked to get the money to get my bachelor’s degree. Nowadays it’s hard for people to find a job and save enough money,” which he said is one reason he created the scholarship.
Horne received his bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of British Columbia and his master’s in business administration from the University of Toronto.
To become a Horne Scholar, a student must be a graduate from a Tennessee high school and major in international relations and/or global studies at MTSU. The applicant also must have a 3.0 grade point average and an incoming freshman must have scored at least a 25 on the ACT admissions exam. The award is for one academic year, and recipients may apply in subsequent years if they meet the scholarship criteria.
“I kept reading in the paper about how tough it was to get money to go to school,” Harry said. “That’s how the idea came along … to heck with giving her more flowers,” he laughed, turning to wife Betty. “It’s not a lot of money, but it’s a legacy that lives on forever.”
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