On October 30th at 4:15 pm a beautiful soul was called home; Kyle Horlacher passed away peacefully in the arms of his beloved wife Abby. Kyle and Abby were fortunate to have almost 10 years together with a third of that time as husband and wife. They met in high school and fell in love, shared their college years together at Purdue, and were married once they both graduated. It is said that when you marry, two become one; and this was never so true as the marriage of Kyle and Abby and the true loving partnership that they shared in all they did.
They spent their married life living on the family farm. Kyle lived all of his life on the farm that he worked with his dad and farming partner, Tommy Horlacher, and his sister, Candice Smith. He loved farming the land in a passionate way, but especially loved harvest time. He would 
often be the first one up before the sun and in the shop checking and prepping all of the equipment to ready it for the day’s work. Sitting in a tractor, harvesting his crop, up on a grain leg, riding in the gator to check the crops with his wife and Abbi, his childhood yellow lab, solving an intricate equipment breakdown and thinking through new challenges, woodworking during the less busy farming times and figuring out how to make his next project; these were the things, the everyday things that he loved.
While his feet were firmly planted in fertile farming soil, he always said that the mountains were what called to him, any and all mountains. His mom, Dawn Horlacher, and dad took him to the mountains early in life to ski in the Rockies at Steamboat. His dad put him on a pair of skis and taught him the basics, like how to avoid trees and how to stop, and he was a natural. Before long he was effortlessly swishing and turning down black diamond runs. He so enjoyed skiing with his dad out west, snowmobiling adventures with mom and dad, and spending the chilly mountain evenings with his mom. He was fortunate that he was able to share this with his Abby as well, in a skiing adventure to Steamboat, a family vacation to Yellowstone where they were never truly lost, and a camping vacation to the Grand Tetons for just the two of them where the beauty of God was present all around them. But it wasn’t just the Rockies that called him.
Kyle and Abby would sit together at night and plan their next vacation and determine where the call would lead them. Once it was decided where they were headed, Kyle was the researcher. Looking up the best hiking adventures, the best ice cream joints to see if they could find one that beat out Mr. C’s in the Keys (they never did, but it didn’t stop them from continuing the daily search), a good place to stop for dinner along the way, or the stories on the local lore and history.
It is said that the natural sister to the mountains is the ocean, and this was true for Kyle. While the mountains called him, the ocean whispered to him. It was on the ocean in the Florida Keys that he discovered the quiet solitude of fishing with his grandpa or kayaking with his mom and Abby. He loved the keys almost as much as the mountains because to him they symbolized family.
Kyle loved all of his own family, Abby’s family, his Purdue family, the Amplify family; all of them. He would be the first to step up when something needed to be done and would do so humbly. He loved playing sports, whether it be the Mulberry Little League baseball games or Intramurals at Purdue or basketball and baseball at Prairie. He was competitive, but it wasn’t the competition or winning that he loved as much as just being with his team, with his friends and enjoying these families and the time spent with them. He loved his YouTube Channels and swore you can find how to do anything on YouTube. He loved the leftovers his mom would bring back home after working concessions for his sister’s cheer team, where the whole team considered him their little brother. He loved going on rides in Abby’s truck and looking at not just their fields, but all the fields for Abby’s work and discussing the progress of each of them. He loved when it was time each spring to go pick up the trash in their field because it meant that planting was just around the corner. He loved binge watching shows with Abby on Netflix and documentaries on true crime because he loved the insight into the human mind. He was the king of one liners and funny memes and was sure to send you one of those when you least expect it but just when you needed a good laugh.
Kyle and Abby’s honeymoon called them to Hawaii, to Diamond Head, and the island of Oahu; a perfect combination of both the ocean and the mountains. In true Kyle research ahead fashion, when they found themselves on a secluded beach at sunrise when the Hawaii false nuclear missile alert sounded, Kyle said not to worry,” I researched what to do in case this happened” and they headed to an old WWII bunker nearby. Kyle fell in love with Hawaii and would often say that he just loved the smell of Hawaii. He loved its ancient history and there discovered the Makau, the Hawaiian Bone Fish Hook. Its ancient story spoke to Kyle as not just a fisherman but as a man of faith. It is said that the Makau symbolizes strength and determination and provides safe journey for body and spirit. It is worn as a necklace with the bone touching the skin so that over time the bone acquires the essence or “mana” of the wearer. It is then an heirloom that is passed to a loved one so that they can carry that person’s mana with them and it would give them strength and safe journey as well.
It would be Kyle’s wish that his mana, his spiritual energy of power and strength be carried with each and every one of those that knew him and was dear to him.
And now “The mountains are calling me.
I must go.
My spiritual guide is my compass during my journey of life.
I must find my path and overcome obstacles so I may rise high and stand tall and proud.
My path leads me and calls me towards the mountains, to the skies, to my eternal life.”
Kyle leaves behind his beloved wife Abby. His father and mother, Tommy and Dawn Horlacher. His in-laws Jim and Judy Clark. His Siblings through life and marriage: Candice and Beau Smith, Sam and Megan Clark, Kristen and Brent Ruder, and Katye Tuyo. His nieces and nephews who loved him: Holland, Charley, Henry, Eliza and Noah. And many close family and friends.
He was preceded in death by his brother-in-law, Steven Tuyo, his Uncle Dave Horlacher and his grandparents, Robert and Connie Maxey, David and Leona Horlacher, and Frank Dijak.
Funeral Services
Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. November 12, 2021 at Goodwin Funeral Home, 200 S. Main St., Frankfort, IN and from 9-10 a.m. November 13, 2021 at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, West Lafayette. Funeral mass will be 10 a.m. November 13, 2021 at St. Thomas Aquinas, 535 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN. Kyle asks that in lieu of flowers please make a donation to either the Ronald McDonald House in Winfield, IL known as RMH Near Central DuPage Hospital or the Mother Teresa fund at St. Thomas Aquinas in West Lafayette. These are two organizations that Kyle truly held dear to him. Addresses are as follows; Ronald McDonald House Charities, Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana, Chapter Business Office, 1301 W. 22nd Street, Suite 905, Oak Brook, IL 60523, Ronald McDonald , House Donation, Designation to: RMH Near Central DuPage Hospital, or St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Attn: Mother Teresa Fund, 535 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906, Mother Teresa Fund at St. Tom’s, Select Mother Teresa Fund and Designate in Note Section that it is in Kyle’s Memory. Please visit goodwinfuneralhome.com, where you may share a message with the family.