BANGOR, Maine — Audrey Horne, who spent 24 years as Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy’s administrative assistant, died of a heart attack Saturday while on vacation in Nova Scotia, her family said. She was 71.
Horne was born in Nine Mile River, Nova Scotia, on May 10, 1939. Her family moved to Lexington, Mass., when she was a child and she graduated from Lexington High School in 1957. She made her way to Maine in 1972 with her then husband, Doug Horne, and three sons, Patrick, Jeffrey and Mark.
The family bought the Otis General Store in the early 1980s and ran it until 1985, when the family moved to Bangor. Horne was hired by the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office in November 1986.
“She started out as the administrative assistant to the DA, and that’s what she did her whole career for the county,” Almy said Monday. “It’s tough. She was a rock for us and kept things going the way it should be.”
In her daily duties, Horne “did just about everything,” he said, listing overseeing the clerical staff, doing payroll, managing the budget and dealing with the public and local news media.
“She created a really high standard of professionalism, especially for the clerical personnel,” Almy said. “She created an atmosphere of friendliness. People were her life. She enjoyed interacting with them. There were those who just came to the office to interact with her. She was so nice.”
Deputy District Attorney Mike Roberts said Horne not only was a valued colleague; he thought of her as family.
“I worked with Audrey for almost 25 years and nobody was better as a sounding board. She had excellent judgment,” he said.
“She was one of those people who connected with everybody. If she went somewhere, she always made friends,” he said. “I lived all my life in this town and Audrey knew far more people in Bangor than I did.”
Roberts also said Horne was like a grandmother to his daughters, ages 8 and 4, who don’t have grandparents of their own. “They thought a lot of her,” he said.
Horne’s job also brought her into frequent contact with law enforcement officers from all over the region.
Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said his entire staff was saddened by Horne’s death.
“The Sheriff’s Department was shocked to hear this tragic news,” he said.
Her son Mark Horne worked for the Sheriff’s Department and died in 1999 of a heart attack at age 31. After that she started a parent survivor support group that met for years.
“The one thing we can take from this is … they are finally together again,” Ross said.
Though he worked with Horne for only about a year as a college intern, Rep. Chris Greeley, R-Levant, a Holden police officer, said she left a strong impression.
“I just was very, very fond of her. She was a person who always gave me a hug whenever we saw each other,” he said.
Her son Patrick Horne of Holden said he and his brothers grew up on Ralph Street in Bangor. He said he often called his mom “Audy,” which is what she had on her license plate.
“Growing up, we [three boys] weren’t bad boys but we had a lot of energy,” he said. “It was a neighborhood. There was never five people at the table — there was always more.”
Audrey Horne also was an animal lover and over the years adopted many pets from the Bangor Humane Society, where she volunteered.
She spent many of her vacations at Sully Circle in Nova Scotia, where “she had a camper down on a lake,” Pat Horne said.
Visiting hours are 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Brookings-Smith Funeral Home, 133 Center St., Bangor, where a funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday. Interment afterward will be at Rowe’s Cemetery in Holden. Gifts in Horne’s memory may be made to the Bangor Humane Society, 693, Mount Hope Ave., Bangor 04401.
A separate memorial service is planned in Canada at a future date, Pat Horne said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Rep. Chris Greeley’s political affiliation. Greeley is a Republican.