The Randolph Society Foundation Board is pleased to announce that Glenn Horrell, a dedicated businessman who used his organizational skills to lift up the educational and medical needs of his community, will be inducted into the 2026 class of honorees.
Glenn A. Horrell was born in October 1916 in Modoc. The second son of Henry and Josephine Horrell, he descended from families with deep roots in the communities of Prairie du Rocher, Ruma, and Brewerville. Glenn was raised with his brothers and sister on a family farm, surrounded by grandparents, aunts, and cousins.
After finishing the eighth grade, Glenn headed out to work, first on local farms and then in the industrial center of East St. Louis. He was employed there by the Continental Can Company, and he also found time to take a night course in salesmanship at a St. Louis YMCA. His innate business acumen came in handy when war broke out. Glenn enlisted in the army in May 1941. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was promoted to Technical Sergeant and assigned as a supply officer to the 752nd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion.
Glenn spent the next several years in the Pacific, coordinating supplies, rations, and equipment for as many as 2800 men. Even though he was nominally present in a supporting role, Glenn and his fellow soldiers were assigned rifleman duties during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. For his service, which included ground combat, he was decorated with numerous medals before his honorable discharge in November 1945.
Back in the States, Glenn returned to Randolph County, where he became the owner and operator of the Royal Tavern in Red Bud. There, he met and married Lucille Husemann Dinges, the daughter of a local beer distributor, who had been widowed during the war. Their family grew to include Lucille’s son, Rodney, and two more children, Kevin and Andrea. Eventually, Lucille’s father, Fred Husemann, asked Glenn to take over the family distributorship. He ran Horrell Distributors, selling Anheuser-Busch products, for the next forty-two years.
Glenn also embarked on several other entrepreneurial endeavors in Red Bud, running an appliance store that sold televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, and opening a pair of car dealerships. He also found time to make a difference in his community. He served as a Red Bud alderman and was president of the board of directors of the First State Bank of Red Bud. He was active in local veterans’ organizations and as a member of St. John’s Catholic Church.
But most of all, Glenn had a knack for connecting projects with people who could move them forward. Two of these efforts, the building of a new hospital and the construction of a local college campus, continue to benefit the people of the region today. Glenn was a key figure in raising funds to build a new facility for St. Clement Hospital (now Red Bud Regional Hospital) in the late 1960s, as well as a nursing home connected to the hospital a few years later.
Glenn was also deeply involved in education, serving on the board of education at Gibault High School in Waterloo. When Belleville Area College (now Southwestern Illinois College) decided to establish a campus in Red Bud in 1984, Glenn used his influence to support and help the local investment group to achieve its goals.
Though he disliked taking credit for his role in these projects, Glenn was recognized by his community with honors like the Red Bud Chamber of Commerce’s first Red Bud Achievement Award and a Special Recognition Award from the trustees of Belleville Area College.
Glenn passed away in May 1988 in Red Bud at the hospital he had helped maintain and grow. He left behind a legacy of community involvement that laid the groundwork for generations of people in the area to thrive, reminding us all that investment in our communities can improve our lives, and the lives of those who come after us.
Click here to read a more detailed biography of Glenn Horrell.
The Randolph Society 