J. HENRY HORNING (1892-1978) had a 38-year career at Toronto's Oakwood Collegiate, starting as a teacher of Physics and Physical Education and retiring as Principal in 1958.

By coincidence, the school's first Principal was R.A. Gray who served the Society as Librarian and Secretary after his retirement in 1931, perhaps at Horning's suggestion. (Speaking of coincidences, the author also taught at Oakwood for several years, and among his colleagues were several RASC members as well Sandra Garrie was the daughter of astronomer T.S. Jacobsen, and the principal at the time was Robert A. Lawson, an Astronomy graduate from the University of Toronto.)

But to return to J.H. Horning. He joined the RASC in 1914, while attending the University of Toronto. A year later, newly graduated, he joined the army as a lieutenant, and served overseas in Europe and the Middle East. In fact some years later he gave a talk to the Toronto Centre, "Under the Northern Cross with Allenby in Palestine" which he illustrated with his own photographs. Some of his other talks included "Measuring Stellar Distances", "Measuring Planet and Star Diameters," and "The Meaning of Astronomical Terms."

He served as the Society's Recorder in 1923, and was on the Toronto Centre Council in the 1930s, but his most remarkable contribution to the Society was his 30-year term as Treasurer - a record only surpassed by Chant as Editor.

Horning received the Service Award in 1960. As stated in his citation, "During lean years he urged caution but ... [in] the good years, he was the first to support bold and wise expenditures for the good of the Society." What better advice could guide any Treasurer?

—Peter Broughton (from Looking Up)