Thomas Needham Horton Sr.

Thomas Needham Horton, Sr. died April 28, 2022, after a courageous battle with brain cancer at the age of 65. Services will be held May 6th at Bellevue Baptist Church at 1 p.m. in the worship center. Internment follows at Memorial Park Cemetery.

Tom Horton was born to William David Horton, Sr. and Maynell Holland Horton in Columbus, MS on August 5, 1956. He attended the University of Mississippi, was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and graduated cum laude from there in 1978 with a degree in Accountancy. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate from the university’s Army ROTC program and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. Following college, he served for six years in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Tennessee Army National Guard, earned the Army Achievement Medal, and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain.

Early in his career, Tom was a CPA who worked for the accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Company and the internal audit department of MLGW. Tom left the accounting profession to focus on financial and real estate investments. Concurrently with his investment career, Tom started Bowen Thomas, Inc., a product development company where he created several products and sold them nationwide. Two of his product creations, card games, won Parent’s Choice Recommendations. For over ten years, Tom enjoyed a hobby of creating and selling puzzles to book publishers and several airline in-flight magazines. His book, Having Fun With Bible Puzzles, was published in 1990 by Broadman Press.

He acted in several community plays and also wrote several plays including Devil’s Trap, Little Matchmakers, and Windows of Life which were produced at several local theaters. Devil’s Trap won an Honorable Mention at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s 2004 New Plays Competition and was also performed at the Oswego, IL Playhouse.

He was a longtime member and deacon at Bellevue Baptist Church where he taught Sunday school and small group classes over the years, served as Chairman of the Student and College Education Committees and was very active in the church’s College Ministry. His greatest passion was mentoring young college men.

Tom had a love for charitable giving. He supported missionaries and mission causes locally, and around the world. He was a member of the Every Child Society of Lebonheur Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Memphis Country Club, and the Mccormick Circle of Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

He is preceded in death by his parents. Tom leaves behind his beloved wife of 39 years, Martha; his children, Tommy Horton (Kylee) of Orlando; and Bowen Horton of Germantown. His extended family includes mother-in-law, Joy Wiener; brother, William D. Horton, Jr, of Las Cruces, NM; nieces, Elizabeth Kraus (Alex) and Wendy Horton; nephew, Billy (Nikki); and beloved cousins, Christy Fields, Martha Carol Horton, Bill Dunlap (Becky), Nancy Tippett (Terry), Peggy Kissell (Mike), James Mewborn (Susan), and Ada Driscoll (Joe).

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to: Bellevue Baptist Church Missions Department, Calvary Rescue Mission, Lebonheur Children’s Hospital Foundation or the Reclaimed Project in Jackson, MS.