Date of death: 1/23/2026
Saint Meinrad Class: O 1971
James Anthony Horak
December 30, 1944 – January 23, 2026
James Anthony Horak, always just “Tony” to those who knew him, was born in New Castle, Indiana, on December 30, 1944. He died in the early morning of January 23, 2026. The cause of death was complications from Parkinsons. He was 81.
Tony died early in the morning, but he also was born early in the morning. His birth certificate notes a 3:24 a.m. delivery. He was always an early riser and a starter of new things.
His mother was Stella Ann Schewene Horak, originally from Detroit, and his father was Anthony William Horak, better known as “Bill”. Tony’s dad was born in 1913, grew up in rural Henry County, Indiana, graduated from the Eighth Grade and, by the time Tony was born, had a steady job as a mechanic at the Chrysler Plant in New Castle. He died in 2007. Tony’s mother, born in 1915, died in 1989.
The Horaks had four children. Besides Tony, there was an older brother, William Franklin, who went by “Frank” because his father already claimed “Bill”. The boys preferred their middle names. Tony also had two sisters, Maryellen and Eileen. The sisters and their families survive and still live in Indiana. Brother Frank died in 1999. He was 63.
The Horaks were Catholic, active members of Saint Anne Catholic Church, and Stella helped at the parish school cafeteria. So it was almost inevitable that either Frank or Tony, at least one of them, would become a seminarian. Frank did a stint in the Navy before going back to New Castle to run his own business, Horak Heating and Air Conditioning. Tony went to Saint Meinrad Seminary in southern Indiana and then to Maryknoll Seminary in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. It was the 1960s and Tony thrived at Glen Ellyn, but instead of becoming a Maryknoll Missionary, he joined the Peace Corps.
With a newly minted degree in Philosophy, the Peace Corps sent Tony to the island of Marinduque in the Philippines to teach math. There, another Peace Corps volunteer, Stan Esterle, introduced him to Delsie Abrigo, and that blossomed into a romance and marriage lasting for more than 55 years.
After they were married, Tony and Delsie moved to Hawaii where they trained incoming Peace Corps volunteers about Filipino culture as part of their preparation for assignments in the Philippines. It was during this time that their daughter, Aisha, was born. They then left Hawaii for Louisville, Kentucky, where Tony taught at St. Brigid Catholic School and worked at the B.F. Goodrich plant as a chemical worker. In Louisville, their son, Zaid, was born. Delsie meanwhile completed a degree in engineering, which led to a job offer for her in Wilmington, North Carolina. The family – now four – relocated once again.
In Wilmington, Delsie worked as an engineer, and Tony stayed home to raise the two children, but once they reached middle school, Tony moved back into teaching¬ as a middle school science teacher. When the plant in North Carolina closed, the family moved to Eden, North Carolina, Tony once again taught middle school science, and Delsie commuted daily to a plant in Martinsville, Virginia, about 30 miles away.
With Aisha and Zaid already out of school and on their own in the States, Tony retired early from teaching. He was 50. Delsie retired the next year and they took their first trip back to the Philippines in 27 years. They decided that this is where they really wanted to be. So Tony and Delsie packed up and moved to the Philippines to start again. Once settled, they adopted two small siblings. Yasmin was just a year older than her 10-week-old brother, Benjamin.
Raising children again in their 50s was both a challenge and a joy. Tony and Delsie and the new little ones found ways to travel back and forth to the states for visits with family and their now four grandchildren living in North Carolina. Tony loved to travel and the family traveled throughout Southeast Asia and cruised the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, the Mediterranean and Japan.
Besides adopting Yasmin and Benjamin, Tony and Delsie sent 4 young adults from needy Filipino families to college. One became a nurse, two taught elementary school and the fourth was employed in IT.
Tony was 65 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but his traveling continued for more than a decade before mobility became too difficult. In his last years, he had care givers at home, including his devoted Delsie. Tony was able to remain at home with Delsie and their youngest daughter, Yasmin, until the end of his days, passing peacefully in his sleep one early morning in January.
Tony is survived by his wife Delsie, his daughter Aisha, her husband Chuang, and their children, Levon and Nathan, in North Carolina, his son Zaid and his children, Tyler and Emily, in North Carolina, his daughter, Yasmin, and her daughter, Genevieve, in the Philippines, and his son, Benjamin, in Washington. Tony also has younger sisters and their families who still live in Indiana: Maryellen, her husband Mike, and their three children and eight grandchildren, and his sister, Eileen, and her four children and six grandchildren. His ashes are interred at a 500 year old church named Santaurio de las Almas in Tayabas, Philippines.