Tom was born March 24, 1929 as Thomas Budd Van Horne VI in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was the only child of the lateThomas Budd Van Horne V and Mildred Wahlquist Van Horne. In addition to his parents, Tom was preceded in death by his wife, Carmelita DeLorenzo Van Horne.
His father was a Manufacturer's Representative, whose ancestors have been in the US since before the Revolution and have been traced to an Emigre, Christian Barentsen (Van Hooren), who arrived from Holland in New Amsterdam in 1651. His descendents later adopted the surname Van Horne. * Notable among these descendents were the Reverend William E. Van Horne who served with Washington at Valley Forge and Colonel Thomas Budd Van Horne (the first) who fought in the Indian wars during the war of 1812.
His mother's parents emigrated from Goteborg, Sweden to Minneapolis, MN. His mother and father were married in 1925. The family left Buenos Aires when Tom was 9 months old to reside In Tarzana, California where he began school. He later attended high school in Chicago and Park Ridge, IL. After graduation, he moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota where he earned a B.S in Physics with distinction in 1951. He accepted a position with Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, CA and while on a part-time work-study program, he obtained a M.S. in Applied Physics from UCLA in 1954. In his first assignment as a test engineer on the Falcon air-to-air missile program, he was responsible for testing the first missile to achieve an intercept with a drone target.
In his 37 year career with Hughes, he held System Engineering and Program Management positions in the following programs:
Interceptor Navigation & Fir Control Systems (F-106 MA1 and others)
Surveyor Unmanned Moon Landing Program - A successful landing was achieved on the first attempt in June 1966
Classified Space Programs
Thematic Mapper Sensor for the Landsat Satellite Earth Mapping Program
Spaceborne Sensors for the Strategic Defense Initiative (popularly known as "Star Wars")
He retired in 1988 and established a small business (Catovah Arts) producing royalty free classical music for video and film background. The music was entirely produced on a computer and sample players. He also developed a computer program "Arranger's Tool", which automatically harmonizes a melody input by the composer.
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