Written by Elise Hornecker Robins, Lenore Tjomsland Hornecker's daughter. 

The facts:  Lenore graduated from Lewis & Clark High School in 1965. She went to work for the Bell Telephone Company in Seattle where she met her future husband, John Hornecker. They married on July 12, 1969.

She lived in Oregon for the next few years where her daughter, Elise, was born in 1972. She then moved to Colorado for a short time before settling in the Beaverton, OR area where she worked in real estate while attending Portland State University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications from PSU in December 1980. She and John divorced.

She moved with her daughter to Bellingham, WA in 1981, where she worked in the insurance industry. She then moved to South San Francisco in 1983 where she was Production Manager for Etidorpha, a fashion design and manufacturing business owned by her sister Eloise. She moved to Mt. Vernon, WA in 1991 to become production manager for Bunnies By The Bay in Anacortes. In 1999, she moved to Redondo Beach, CA to be closer to her daughter and son-in-law. She was clinic manager for Yo-San University, a traditional Chinese medicine training institution, until her retirement in 2001.

Lenore was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Multiple Myeloma, in 1996. The doctors gave her six months to live. She fought and took seven years, enduring chemo and radiation and multiple stem cell transplants, but seeing several foreign countries, her daughter’s wedding, and the birth of her first grandchild along the way. She passed away on a rainy evening, October 30, 2003, in her own home, with her daughter at her side.

Now, the memories:

Lenore was an enthusiastic grandma, who relished the short eight months she was able to spend with her grandson.

She was a talented seamstress and produced beautiful needlework, home furnishings, and clothing for her friends and family.

She was an accomplished public speaker, and worked as a volunteer counselor and presenter for rape prevention while attending PSU.

She enjoyed creative writing, and a collection of her works has been published posthumously by her daughter.

She would occasionally be seized by fits of soundless, uncontrollable giggles.

She travelled to Norway, London, and Paris.

She played on many softball teams.

She was a member of the Giants baseball fan club, and she and her daughter once travelled with the club to Los Angeles to watch the Giants/Dodgers series.

After retirement, she met a group of buddies for breakfast around town in what they called the Breakfast Club.

She loved to read and loved great dancing.

She was the nicest person most people have ever met.

Lenore is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Elise and Greg Robins of Hermosa Beach, CA; her two sisters: Diane Tjomsland and her husband Rob Matthews of Bow, WA, and Eloise Strickland and her husband Michael Norris of South San Francisco, CA; and her grandchildren: Rex, Tabetha, and Penelope Lenore Robins.