Dee was born in Britton, South Dakota to Adolph and Nona Horn. Dee has known the Lord since birth and was raised in the Lutheran Church, LCMS. Her family had homesteaded land in South and North Dakota where they were farmers. Dee loved to be outdoors and was driving trucks and tractors as soon as she could operate the pedals at about 8 years old and hauling grain for her dad at age 10. She also has had a love for music since she was a young girl. She was an amazing pianist and played the piano and pipe organ for her church as well as saxophone and other instruments all through school. Her dad bought her a Wurlitzer Piano that she still owns to this day.
In 1963, after graduation at the age of 18 years old, Dee moved to Southern California where her two older brothers had already lived. Shortly after moving she married Gary Lee Thormahlen in 1964 and had two children, Lance Douglas and Kelli Marie. Dee worked in banking, retail clerks and real estate.
Dee started her 44 year sobriety journey at Long Beach Memorial Hospital on February 29, 1979. She and Lee moved the family to Casper, Wyoming in December, 1979. After 18 years of marriage, Lee and Dee Divorced in 1982.
Dee worked various jobs in construction, from sandblasting, laborer and operating machinery. She was never afraid of hard work and could out work most men. She met Mike Jones who was a superintendent in the construction field. They fell in love, and were married on June 27, 1983. They have had a blessed marriage for 40 years.
Dee went to work for Natrona County School District where she worked with the Work Study and ABLE program out of Natrona County High School. She drove a school bus for that program for 27 years. She retired from NCSD #1 in 2017. She still carries a CDL to this day.
Dee has always had a love for horses and from childhood and has owned several. Even while living in California she owned horses. Once she moved to Wyoming her passion for them grew and got great pleasure from her early morning rides with family and friends.
Dee LOVED the Lord with every fiber of her being. After being sober for a couple of years her relationship with the Lord grew and has continued to grow into a testimony all in itself. She has led many many people to the Lord through her life. Not only through her testimony but her daily example of how she lived her life. Always giving ALL the Glory to God in every situation.
Her famous saying was, “GOD IS GOOD!” She lived by these words in good times and in bad. She was a true Prayer Warrior.
Dee’s first round of cancer started in 2001 with late stage 3, early stage 4 Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Against all the odds…. God was not done with her. She beat that cancer, giving all the Glory to God. In 2008 Dee developed Breast Cancer. Defying all odds once again… God had more plans for her. After 5 years of chemo, radiation and surgery she had won that battle with Breast Cancer. In February of 2021, Dee for the third time, developed Small Cell Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After several rounds of chemo she had a PET Scan. That scan showed she was once again winning the battle. In November of 2022 additional PET Scans revealed a very aggressive Large Cell Lymphoma. In February 2023 After exhausting her resources in Casper, Wyoming, Dee was referred to Denver CBCI for CAR- T Cell Therapy. She stayed in Denver for 6 weeks. This treatment was unsuccessful. April 13, 2023 after the 6 long weeks in Denver, we brought her back to her beautiful homeinCasper, Wyoming to be comfortable and to be surrounded by family and friends.
After 22 years of battling cancer and defying the odds many times, the Warrior Princess was surrounded by her loving family when the Lord called her home on Friday, June 16, 2023. Dee would not want you to be sad, but to smile and remember her amazing sprite and faith in the Lord. She often said and even in her last days how truly blessed she was and how no matter what … she had Victory in the LORD. She will be terribly missed by SO many!!
Preceded in Death by her father, Adolph Peter Horn; her mother, Nona Evangeline (Barbknecht) Horn; oldest brother, Kenneth Edwin Horn; middle brother, LeRoy “Butch” Adolph Horn; and nephew, Troy Russell Jones.
Survived by her husband, Michael R. Jones; son, Lance Douglas Thormahlen, Wife: Wendy L (Castro) Thormahlen: Casper WY; daughter, Kelli Marie (Thormahlen) Slominski, Husband: Michael D Slominski: Casper WY; granddaughter, Hanna Marie Slominski and Scott D Avey: Sheridan WY; granddaughter, Lacey Anne Slominski and Levi S Wood: Casper WY; youngest Brother, Theodore H Horn: Burke SD; nephew, (Son of Theodore) Thomas Horn, Wife: Amber Horn Daughters: Nona Horn & Toni Horn: Burke South Dakota; nieces, (Daughters of Middle Brother LeRoy) Kimbra (Horn) Squires, Husband: Dan Squires: CA, Son: Tucker Squires and Daughter: Jordyn Squires: Chicago IL, Londra (Horn) Wagner, Husband: Brian Wagner; Daughter: Paige Wagner: NC Daughter: Shayna (Wagner) Nelson Husband: Matt Nelson, Son: Everett: NC; sister in law, Lori (Wolter) Anderson and Husband: David Anderson: Casper WY; brother & sister in law, Mark and Bobbie Jones: Florence, CO; nephew, Mark Jones and Wife: Jill Jones: Florence, CO; sister in law, Pattie (Jones) French and Husband: Mike French: Pueblo West, CO; niece, Tisha (Legan) Dremmel, Husband: Joel Dremmel, Sons: Trey Smith, Ty Smith and Townes Booker; Pueblo, CO; nephew, Lonnie Legan, Wife: Emily (Moore) Legan, Daughter:Aspen and Son: Hunter; Pueblo West, CO.
Services will be held at 1:00 PM on Friday, June 30, 2023 at the Highland Park Community Church, Casper, Wyoming.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Dee’s honor to: Central Wyoming Hospice or the 12/24 Club of Casper Wyoming.
