John Horst

For some 30 years, John Horst (Class; MLatin’71; PhDClass’87), a 1986 finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year and known as Dr. J to his students, enjoyed sharing the beauty of Latin. He focused on identifying the Latin roots in English words and taught the students how to catch “literary fish” to feed themselves for a lifetime. He enhanced his classes with references to Latin’s influence on the Romance languages, French and Spanish, and featured cultural enrichments from Greek and Roman literature and history. For five years, he offered “Greek and Roman Comedy,” which focused mostly on the Greek side to challenge students’ critical thinking skills and their abilities to develop creative, nonviolent, mythical solutions to serious problems in society. Retired since 2003, he spends time on adventures with his wife, Jean, reading, working on various projects, singing karaoke and taking his husky, Kita, for walks.