Horace Grady Hines

A retired licensed clinical social worker, he died at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center at 4:42 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. A beloved teacher and a recognized expert in the family treatment of alcohol and drug addiction, his career in social work practice and education spanned more than 45 years. A descendant of two pioneer Texas families, he was born to Horace Grady Hines Sr. and Irene Gulley Hines in the small border town of Bethany in northwest Louisiana on Aug. 5, 1937. He attended primary school in Texas, a school that was unique in that it followed a Louisiana public school curriculum. He graduated high school at Greenwood and earned his bachelor's degree at Centenary College of Louisiana where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. He began his career in social work in 1959 as a welfare visitor for the Louisiana Department of Social Welfare. After earning the master's of social work degree at LSU in 1963, he returned four years later to the university in Baton Rouge to teach in the Graduate School of Social Work for the next 20 years. Upon retirement from the university in 1987, he entered private practice and additionally served as a consultant to several community programs in family mental health and addictive disorders. During his long professional career, he was a NASW Diplomate in Clinical Social Work and a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers. He was one of the founders of Baton Rouge Youth Inc. and a former board member of Baton Rouge Area Alcoholism Center. He served for a number of years on the Planning Council of Baton Rouge Area United Way and was one of two non-Catholics appointed by the late Bishop Robert Tracey to the first Social Responsibility Board of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. A devoted husband, loving father, and adoring grandfather, he was predeceased by his beloved wife of 47 years, Signa Dell Jones Hines. He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Wyatt Geoffrey Hines and Catherine Puett, of New Orleans; a daughter, Melanie Melaine Turnley and her husband, Jimmy Turnley, of Baton Rouge; and three grandchildren, Ashlyn Elizabeth Hines, Chanler Dell Turnley, and Jett Russell Turnley. Other survivors include sisters, Irene "Elsie" Gulley Reinert, of Macungie, Pa., and Ina Carole Pacheco and Joan Ann Gandy, both of Shreveport; sister-in-law, Jane Jones McCafferty, of Alexandria, Va.; and a number of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Shirley Marie Groome; and a very special aunt and uncle, Lettice and Thomas Sydney Gulley and their daughter, Mittie Emily Horton. A devotee of theater, he was well known to area audiences and played many memorable roles in theatrical productions at Baton Rouge Little Theater, Baker Little Theatre, Artworx and Ascension Community Theatre. An awardwinning actor, he was inducted into Baton Rouge Little Theater's Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his many contributions to that organization as an actor, board member and volunteer. He was a member of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. Visitation at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., on Monday, Sept. 28, was from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Visitation resumes at the funeral home on Tuesday from 10 a.m. until religious service at noon, officiated by the Rev. Jerry Martin of St. Patrick Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11817 Jefferson Highway. Pallbearers will be his son and his son-in-law, Charles Richard, D.L. Starns, Louis Stafford and Tal Johnson.