Loren Joseph Horton was born at Albion, Illinois in 1904. He attended McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois and graduated in 1927. After graduation he taught at various high schools in Illinois and worked as a reporter for the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. In 1928, he was hired as a faculty member at Murray State Normal School as an instructor of journalism. From 1930 to 1947, he was a staff writer for the Associated Press, Louisville Courier-Journal and Paducah Sun-Democrat. He acquired a Master of Arts degree from Murray State College in 1943. In 1947, he became director of the School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Horton returned to Murray State in 1967 and acted as head of the journalism program until his retirement in 1974. Between 1928 and 1938, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Lower Tennessee Valley Association, which sought to construct a dam on the lower Tennessee River. He also was the manager of the City Chamber of Commerce at Murray from 1934 to 1938.
From the description of L. J. Horton Papers, 1933-1993. (Murray State University). WorldCat record id: 598418430
