Memories of Rehoboth Beach grande dames live on

“An Early Rehoboth Love Story,” a local history lecture delivered Jan. 12 at the Boardwalk Plaza Hotel, was dedicated to cousins Til Horn Purnell and Anne Horn Ballard, both of whom had lived beyond the century mark at that time. Just six months later, both of these grande dames of Rehoboth have passed, Anne in April and Til in May, but the colorful background they supplied for the lecture lives on. Til and Anne were born in 1921 and 1922, respectively, when coal-burning steam locomotives still brought passengers to the train station in the middle of ocean-block Rehoboth Avenue. Their parents would have used those trains to take them to or from summer vacations, shopping trips and holiday visits. Both were descendants of Charles Solomon Horn, the founder of Horn’s Pavilion, an iconic structure over the beach at the end of Rehoboth Avenue from 1899 to 1914.

Til and Anne’s colorful stories memorialize their love of spending summers sunning and swimming at the beach, walking the boardwalk in their full-length dresses, taking the family sailboat to Piney Island in Rehoboth Bay for picnics, and enjoying holiday celebrations at Gaylawn, the Horn family homestead at 10 Baltimore Ave.

The “Love Story” lecture video is available at goldenageofrehoboth.com. It tells the story of Til’s mom and dad, Nettie Tappan and William Arden Horn, as they fell in love during the railroad era of Rehoboth Beach, a time when the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse still beamed across the evening sky over the ocean. The lecture includes 1940s and 1950s video narrated by Anne, relating stories that express the family love for Rehoboth, the town to which Til and Anne returned frequently, and considered their lifelong home. Most assuredly, Til and Anne are now sharing their stories of lives fully lived with their beloved ancestors.

Information supplied by Paul Lovett.