Written by Bonnie Henderson
North Coast Land Conservancy lost not just a great friend but its longest-standing board member when Seaside geologist Tom Horning died May 29 after a series of surgeries for aneurysms. He was 72.
Surely you’ve met Tom. If you’re of a certain age, he may have delivered your newspaper. Maybe he was your Seaside city councilor or planning commissioner. Perhaps you joined an NCLC-sponsored geology walk or heard Tom present a talk about the unusual geology of the 3,500-acre Rainforest Reserve above Arch Cape that he helped conserve.
Maybe you were lucky enough to overhear him at Gearhart’s former Pacific Way Café some weekend morning as he reclined against the wall and shared his memories of the 1964 tsunami from Alaska, 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.
Tom lived his first five years in the forest at Crown Camp, moved briefly to Milwaukie, then grew up in the Venice Park neighborhood of Seaside and attended Seaside High School. At Oregon State University, after studying chemistry and nuclear engineering, he discovered a passion for geology, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After college he prospected all over the Western Hemisphere, from Peru to British Columbia and east as far as Pennsylvania and Georgia, but he loved his home state and hometown.
In 1994, he moved back into his childhood home in Seaside, which he came to share with his wife Kirsten, and opened his own geological consulting service. 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.
In 1996, Tom joined the North Coast Land Conservancy Board of Directors. In his 30 years with NCLC, he served on nearly every committee and as president, vice president, and secretary. He never missed an opportunity to promote NCLC’s accomplishments and vision and to encourage its support.
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