James C. Hornaday was “a man about town” – no bonvivant or socialite – but a man who was all about a town, the town of Homer, Alaska. He loved it and was deeply engaged in just about everything going on here.
He arrived in 1977, newly appointed by Gov. Jay Hammond as a District Court Judge for the State of Alaska — Homer’s first. He passed away on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, at the age of 87 at South Peninsula Hospital following the sudden onset of a brief illness.
In those 50 years, he put down deep roots — 12 years as a presiding judge, four terms as mayor (2004-2012), a board member and volunteer for many community organizations and nonprofits, and a long-time congregant with the Homer United Methodist Church. He was especially proud that four generations of Hornadays have lived in Homer.
How he got to Homer
Hornaday fell under Alaska’s spell in 1960 when he and a buddy from Monmouth College, Ill., “thought it might be neat to go to Alaska,” Hornaday recounted in a 2014 oral history project interview at the Homer Public Library. They landed in Juneau on one-way tickets with no money.
“I still had a year to go in college,” he said. “My folks thought I was nuts.”
Because he had worked at a YMCA camp, Hornaday got a job with Alaska Fish and Game being a stream guard in the Tongass National Forest checking licenses and enforcing regulations. It was an exciting job, he said.
“I had my own speedboat . . . and was the most hated man in the bay.”
That experience set the trajectory of his life. Hornaday went back to college, finished his degree, decided to go to law school — “I had to do something with a history degree” — and talked his wife, Karen, into coming to Alaska.
They drove up with their little girl, Mary. He passed the Alaska bar in 1965, started working at an Anchorage law firm, got fired, found work as a law clerk for four judges and welcomed son Daniel to the family.
James Fisher, a pioneering attorney in Kenai, “dug me out of the courthouse” and offered Hornaday a partnership. At the time, they were the only full-time lawyers on the peninsula. In his 10 years in Kenai, his family added two more sons, Joshua and Matthew, and he and Fisher organized the Kenai Peninsula Bar Association (1967). One of the group’s key objectives was to require local judges to live in their districts, not just visit them.
Judge Hornaday
Arriving in Homer, the newly appointed Judge Hornaday shared a building with Alaska Fish and Game and the Alaska Cooperative Extension Service.
“Everybody . . . could hear what was going on,” he said. “Several times . . . we’d have to continue the case because jurors could hear the lawyers yelling out in the hallway.”
His most famous case was one he brought himself in order to stay in Homer.
Hornaday was known as the “hanging judge” for his stiff sentences. After a number of local high school students were killed in drunk driving accidents, he announced that he would uniformly impose stiff sentences on defendants convicted of drunken driving, including 10 to 15 days in jail for first offenders.
Hornaday recalled, “It seemed like the judges were afraid to give stiff sentences . . . because they didn’t want the lawyers to give them bad ratings.”
Defense attorneys began “preempting” Hornaday — the process of removing a judge from a case without providing a reason.
In December 1982, a Superior Court Judge ordered Hornaday to relocate to Anchorage, claiming his high preemption rate was a burden on the court system. Hornaday contested the transfer, arguing it had no basis in law, violated the separation of powers and infringed on due process.
“They were really ticked off that I was suing them,” Hornaday said. “I was standing up for the independence of the judiciary.”
Gary Lyon remembers that case. A hearing was held at the high school and “crowds of people turned out to support Judge Hornaday,” he said.
“They got an earful, had to quiet us down even,” Lyon said. “I was very proud of the principled thing Jim was doing.”
The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which found in his favor, and Hornaday stayed put.
Hornaday could have been called the “helping judge.” He worked with Carol Swartz, founder of South Peninsula Women’s Services, to provide counseling to help domestic violence victims navigate the court system. He worked with Brother Asaish Bates, who owned a janitorial service, to set up the first work program in the state for short-term offenders.
A common theme from community members who have reflected on Hornaday’s court days was his fairness.
City council member Caroline Venuti recalled that in cases involving people from Seldovia, Port Graham or Nanwalek, Judge Hornaday made sure their juries included their peers from across the bay, not just people from Homer.
Long-time friends Bill and Judy Marley said Hornaday was friendly and fair and sought the truth.
Hornaday himself said he tried to be fair and issue opinions based on the law and the facts.
Mayor Hornaday
In 1986-87, Hornaday and his wife took a year’s sabbatical to enjoy life on a farm in Iowa, the judge’s home state. Tragically, Karen was thrown from a horse and died there. Homer’s 40-acre Karen Hornaday Park bears her name in appreciation for her civic leadership.
Hornaday left the bench in 1989, taught two years at Iowa Wesleyan College near the farm and returned to Homer in 1991. He occupied himself with starting the Homer Tribune newspaper, which remained in print under a few different owners until 2019, and opened a new law practice.
Having been student council president at his Des Moines, Iowa, high school and a member of the Kenai City Council, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly and the Kenai Peninsula School Board in the 1970s, it was inevitable that Hornaday would take up politics in Homer.
He was elected mayor in 2004 with 61% of the vote and was unopposed for reelection in 2006. In 2008, Hornaday surprised everyone when he filed a letter of resignation and withdrew his candidacy just three weeks before the city election.
Within six days he had changed his mind and asked to be reinstated. “I lost my temper” was his best explanation.
During Hornaday’s tenure, the city faced rising costs and declining revenues with stark differences in how to manage the challenge.
Beth Wythe was elected to the City Council the same year Hornaday became mayor. They served together through his eight years then she succeeded him for another four years as mayor. She said she learned so much from Hornaday.
“He was very good with helping us focus on what our job was, which was policy and procedure and direction and long-term thinking,” Wythe said. “So that helped me be able to learn and understand and develop those skills.”
Wythe said she learned about conducting a meeting, public decorum, how to control a room — just watching him gave her an understanding of how the job of mayor was supposed to be done.
Hornaday was elected to a third term by his narrowest margin, 52% of the vote but, in 2010, won a fourth term with a whopping 79% of the vote.
A major accomplishment during his eight years as mayor was Homer’s Climate Action Plan in 2007. After attending a climate conference, Hornaday was convinced Homer should have a plan to address climate change through its own government and community efforts. An implementation plan followed in 2009, and a progress report was completed in 2021.
Hornaday enjoyed the opportunities being mayor gave him, especially to issue proclamations honoring people and organizations for accomplishments that might otherwise be overlooked.
He also visited Teshio, Japan, Homer’s sister city; presented keys to the city to the GEICO Caveman, Capt. Andy Hillstrand and Capt. Jonathan Hillstrand when they came to town to film a commercial aboard the “Time Bandit”; and lit the city Christmas tree in WKFL Park with his black lab Sparky at his side.
Stephanie Dickerson recalled being young during Hornaday’s tenure and not tuned in to city politics. She said she now recognizes the significant civic improvements made during his time.
“Many of the things that we take for granted now — Islands and Oceans, the college remodel and the library — were all done during his term,” she said. Add to that a new animal shelter.
When he handed over the gavel to Beth Wyeth in 2012, Hornaday commented to the Homer News that the budgets were balanced, the city savings had grown, taxes were lower and city council meetings were shorter. (He implemented and rigidly enforced the three-minute rule for public testimony that persists today.)
Citizen Hornaday
His next role would be as a community advocate for the activities and causes he cared about.
“Jim was such a pillar of the community for so long,” said former state legislator and community leader Paul Seaton. “Not only as mayor, but as a participant in the community. That’s where I knew him.”
A short list of Hornaday’s community commitments includes — founding member of the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council, Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Community Council, Homer Society of Natural History (Pratt Museum) Board, Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies and the Homer Community Food Pantry.
He was an original member of HUGS (Homer Ukulele Group Society). Anyone who knew Hornaday knew it didn’t take much for him to break out his signature ukulele — community socials, city council meetings, the Homer Senior Center, SPH Long-Term Care, Nutcracker Faire, events of all kinds whenever and wherever.
“I remember hearing on KBBI that Jim Hornaday played ukulele,” said LuAnne Nelson, who started the group in 2011 with Carol Comfort. They contacted him to see if he would help get the group off the ground.
He came to the first gathering in Mary Epperson’s studio and to most every one after that up to the end.
“Jim’s tenor was one of our strongest and best,” Nelson said. “He loved Elvis, ‘Danny Boy’ and older tunes. He had additional off-color verses for some old tunes that came from his college days that he would squeeze in whenever possible.”
Hornaday brought songs that he had written to the group that are regulars on the playlist, including “Homer Bound” and “Come Back Home to Kachemak Bay.”
He performed in Pier One Theatre productions, volunteered in the Nutcracker, judged parades and competed for Mr. Homer.
He sang in the choir, performed in pageants and washed dishes at the Homer United Methodist Church. When Hornaday was interviewed recently for the church’s 75th anniversary, he encouraged the congregation to continue all its community activities. He was at church every Sunday he could, up to the Sunday before his passing.
“That’s what you do on Sunday,” he said. “You go to church.”
Cindy Graham, a special friend and companion, said, “The things that he loved in life were the things that should be loved. He loved friendship and loved music. He loved sweets and cookies. And he loved to laugh.”
She shared a story: Some years ago, a man in Homer needed a place to live, and Jim took him in. He stayed with Jim for two years. “When I asked him how he was getting along with this guy, he said, ‘You know, he’s a good cook.’”
The first time Hornaday was elected mayor, he acknowledged the efforts the other candidates had made.
“I honor people who put their names on the line,” he said. “It takes a lot of guts to stick your neck out there.”
By this measure, James C. Hornaday was nothing if not gutsy.
Following his wishes, Jim Hornaday’s family will have a celebration of his life this summer and release his ashes into the waters of Kachemak Bay.
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