Catherine Hedwig Stainken graduated from the New York State College of Home Economics at Cornell in 1936 and received an M.S. in 1939, specializing in Foods & Nutrition. At Cornell she was a member of Mortar Board, Omicron Nu, Pi Lambda Theta, Phi Kappa Phi, the Women's Athletic Association (WAA - hockey, soccer, lacrosse, basketball), CURW Cabinet (president, treasurer). She was the Home Economics editor for the Cornell Countryman and the WAA booklet editor. She served on the Home Economics Committee on Student Problems and the Home Economics Vocational Forum Committee. She won a New York State Cash Scholarship, an Omicron Nu scholarship, and a Laura Osborne Memorial Scholarship. She was an instructor at Cornell (1936-1937) and at Oregon State College (1937-1938), and a research assistant at Cornell (1938-1939). She married Henry Eyster Horn '33, a Lutheran minister, in 1939; they had ten children.