Lloyd Trevor Horton, Jr (“Timmy”)

Nursing Home Crooner Passes

We honor the deceased for their military service.

Lloyd Trevor Horton, Jr. was born on May 9, 1945 to the late Helen Taylor Horton and the late Lloyd T. Horton, Sr. Esq. in Boston, MA. He was so tiny they nicknamed him “Tim” in reference to “Tiny Tim” the popular character from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. To his friends he was known as “Timmy”. In formal situations like school and work, he was Lloyd. Lloyd was his preferred name later in life.

He attended Boston Public schools. At Hyde Park High School he was a short distance and relay running star. He loved the camaraderie of his track buddies down at the Boston Garden during annual track meets. But make no mistake, he was a serious competitor.

After graduation in 1966 he participated in the Hinton Clinical Lab Assistant Program at Northeastern University studying subjects such as Phlebotomy, Hematology and Biochemistry before joining the U.S. Navy. At Bethesda Naval Hospital he continued studies in the Medical Laboratory Technician Training Program. He was no slouch. He continued on with Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology and Nursing at the Great Lakes Medical Hospital Corps School. In the 1990s Lloyd renewed these skills in the Biomedical Program of Jobs for Youth at Boston University Medical School. There he perfected lab skills in areas such as solutions preparation, sterile techniques and instrumentation.

Following his naval service as a medical laboratory technician in Long Beach, CA, Lloyd returned home to Boston. He worked for seven years as a technician at the Columbia Point Health center before trying his hand at something different. He tapped into his creative skills and became a Landscape Contractor. For eight years he beautified the City. He was very proud of his contributions. Many remember him driving around in those landscaping trucks. He was always happy to see you, give a wave of his hand with a broad smile, or stop and talk. And, you know he could talk! He was also a brilliant rhymer, a clever jokester, and a highly poetic “sound-making” specialist and wordsmith.

Lloyd’s voice was his instrument. There was his quartet singing in various high school groups. Later, you may remember he was a perfect tenor in the local singing group, Bubbling Brown Sugar with Billy Parks and Bubba Rivers. He was also part of Harvard University Radio local programming with Gary Rickson and Bob Walthall on Sundays in the 1980s. He loved that show! A highlight of Lloyd’s singing experience was his beautiful contribution as vocal soloist with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in a New York City public concert of the Sacred Music of the great Duke Ellington. His wonderful voice, his love of people, artistic charm and uplifting solos also graced the assisted living and nursing home he lived in during the last years of his unique life. He was loved by the many residents of those facilities and the staff members were always in awe of his musical gift. His joy was highly appreciated! They loved him dearly!

Speaking of love, Lloyd married Irene Clark in 1980. They have two sons together: Omari Clark & Jahi Horton. Ato and Carol Clark rounded out the family of six. Oh, family was truly important to Lloyd. He focused on spending quality time with the children to instill values, tell them the truth about life, and illustrate the importance of relationships. He loved his parents and siblings, his aunts and uncles, niece, nephews, cousins and in-laws immensely. He loved his friends and childhood buddies too. He’d say they were brothers/sisters from ‘another mother’! Thankfully, he knew that his love was reciprocated.

In 1993 Lloyd returned to his laboratory roots. He joined the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research as a laboratory assistant. He prepared solutions for DNA Hybridization, Genome Map making, and DNA library construction. (Ah, shucks!) He operated a dot blotting Genomatron robot, constructed agarose gel for experiments and performed DNA electrophoresis. He was part of the team that cracked the code to the Human Genome that ultimately received world-wide recognition in 2003.

Lloyd loved life. Lloyd loved people. Lloyd loved his family. But most of all, Lloyd loved the Lord. He was ordained in the early 2000s - He truely knew from whence his strength came!