David was born at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father, John Lynn Scott Horner, a graduate of Yale University, was a physician. His mother was Jane Roudebush Horner. David was the oldest of four siblings, the other three all girls, Sue, Carolyn and Jane. David's family history in Shreveport begins in the early 1850s when his great, great grandfather, W.P. Wynans (?) purchased land south of Greenwood. The home there was eventually called Montrose. Eventually the family moved to St. Louis. David attended John Burroughs High School, where he cultivated an interest in sculpting and welding. He worked on riverboats on the Mississippi River as a deckhand and on a salvage barge. After graduating from high school in 1957. David joined the U.S. Navy in February of 1958. After training in San Diego he requested sea duty and received orders to serve aboard the USS Midway, at that time the largest carrier in the navy. "They flew me out on the ship out in the sea," he recalls, where he arrived for the vessel's maiden voyage as an angled carrier. He served as a quartermaster and in navigation on the bridge, where he took four-hour shifts on the wheel. When aircraft were launched, the carrier was traveling at 35 knots "to get enough air across the deck" he recalls. Occasionally, the sailors enjoyed "swim call" when they could take a dip in the ocean. Splashing around in the Marianna Trench, a depth of three-and-a-half miles deep, made him feel uncomfortable, he recalls. In spare time the men also played baseball and volleyball and kept in shape with calisthenics. Russian submarines occasionally surfaced nearby. "The cooks would come out and dump garbage over the back...and they'd wave again and close the hatch. Just to let you know they're there," he recalls. Russian bombers also made passes over them. Occasionally USO shows entertained the ship's crew. He recalls Leslie Gore aboard singing her hit song, Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. David completed his service in March of 1962. He returned to St. Louis and worked for McDonnell Douglas as a technical illustrator. Four months later the family moved to California where he worked for Lockheed Missiles and Space in Sunnyvale, also as a technical illustrator. He returned to St. Louis and resumed his old position at McDonnell Douglas. He and his first wife separated and he went to work at LTV (Ling-Temco-Vought) in Dallas in advertising. He quit that job and entered North Texas State University (as University of North Texas was then called) on the G.I. Bill. He completed a BSA and MSA in fine arts. He then began teaching life drawing and three-dimensional design at the university. On September 29, 1973 he married Jerry Slack. (They would have one daughter from that union and four children from a previous marriage.) He worked as a freelance artist for Jack Hodges Advertising, then taught at Centenary College for two years before transferring to LSUS where he taught until 1984. He taught at Bossier Parish Community College from 1988 until retiring in 2001. He now does artwork by commission and teaches at Louisiana Tech Barksdale.