Sandy and Phil Hornburg, and their dog, retired and moved to Morro Bay where they are active in service clubs and community. Photo by Judy Salamacha
The Estero Bay has attracted so many life-experienced residents from afar to share the benefits of those who continue to maintain and value our mutual paradise. I believe our pooled talents, connections, and experiences will continue to enrich what we all call home.
Meet your neighbors since 2020, Sandy and Phil Hornburg. Their adult careers were based in Visalia with vacation visits to the coast. Sandy’s mother lived in Santa Maria and her father owned property in Cayucos.
“Everyone living in the Valley loves to get out of the heat,” Sandy said. Phil was quick to share his belief that a retired lawyer should move away from his practice. “It’s only natural your friends and associates will want your advice – but for free.”
At the recommendation of Ron McIntosh, a founding member of the Morro Bay Car Show and a client of Phil’s Visalia law firm, the couple found a lot in Morro Bay and hired local architect George Nagano to design their house. While monitoring construction on the Nagano-designed home, Phil would feed his passion finding local golf buddies to play several county courses. The couple stayed in a condo Phil and a law partner had co-purchased. He and Sandy would also walk their dog in Founder’s Park nearby and curiously watched Wayne Colmer’s housing development progress on south Main Street.
When Phil discovered the last three houses were to sell by lottery, he and the partner bid. While vacationing in Maui, Phil got the surprise call he would have 30 minutes for first pick. His challenge was two-fold: his partner wanted out and he needed a savvy Morro Bay friend to advise him.
Morro Bay Realtor Dan Reddell advised, “It’s a no-brainer. Pick the one across the street from the park with a bay view.” Sight-unseen, Sandy and Phil had their future coastal retirement home and sold the other one post construction.
“That was 2006,” Sandy said. “Then during COVID after settling my mother into a full care home, Governor Newsom came on the radio announcing, ‘Shelter in place.’ We drove directly to our Morro Bay house and decided we were retired.”
But both are far from retiring from community involvement. “I’m in love with my Rotary Club,” Sandy said. “I could have transferred from my Visalia Sunrise Club to Morro Bay Rotary, but I knew I’d make friends here, so I wanted to meet others in San Luis.” She’s incoming co-club secretary for Rotary de Tolosa in San Luis Obispo.
Phil maintains his Rotary membership with the Rotary Club of Visalia where they have family. He is particularly proud of uniting six area clubs to create the Visalia Rotary Foundation.
“After crops froze and folks were out of work, I hoped our Rotary would direct more club donations locally.” Collaborating multiple clubs’ efforts has increased Rotary’s annual community giving to $10M in community grants and 90 to100 college and vocational scholarships.” A major project the Foundation funded was Homeless Shelter Visalia.
The couple foresees more travel to complete Sandy’s bucket list, and they enjoy visiting with their children and nine grandchildren. Sandy added, “Phil’s taught all of them to ski.”
Phil will golf anywhere. He’s played 330 courses worldwide and plays three times a week at Morro Bay, Monarch Dunes or Blacklake in Nipomo.
I was curious about their backgrounds before Morro Bay. Sandy was born in Artesia, CA. A fond memory was sailing to Catalina on the boat her father constructed. She began as “a tot” with the family growing to eight. Eventually they explored the Central Coast during her father’s short-lived transfer to Nipomo. When he died, her mother permanently relocated to Santa Maria and remarried. Sandy chose Fresno State for college, married and became a probation officer. She was a neighbor of Phil’s first family and due to their careers would run into each other at the courthouse.
Growing up in Olean, NY, Phil fought joining the family business, a dynasty of New York Hornburg attorneys, until 1964 when he chose law school over risking the Vietnam draft. “We’re now working on our 6thgeneration of lawyers – our granddaughter is with the Fresno firm.”
Phil’s grandfather, who once represented Al Capone, had graduated at 16 and attended Columbia Law School. His father’s partner participated in WWII’s Japanese Surrender signing. His mother, born in Oil City, PA, eventually had family connections to oil wildcatters who relocated to Taft and Santa Maria.
Phil said, “I was a first child – born in ’42 at Schofield Base in Hawaii. I chose Hamiliton College, an all-male school, to get away from home. It was a wild time. One of my fraternity brothers wrote the concept for the film ‘Animal House.’” Several girls’ prep schools – Vassar and Bennett – were near Hamilton. His future, first wife would set up dates for the nine fraternity brothers.
He was accepted at all the law schools he applied to but chose Madison in Wisconsin. “I thought it was close to California.” Before they were married, his first wife lived in Visalia although she was attending USC.
During a Madison summer break, Phil took a job at Page Military School in Los Angeles. “We sneaked off to Vegas and married. My family cut me off, and her father took away her car. Eventually he softened and offered me any car off his Visalia car lot.” Phil eyed a Chevy Stingray but chose a conservative Dodge Dart to get them back to Madison to finish law school. “I had to work to pay for law school. We got (live-in) jobs managing a 200-apartment complex. She was the manager and I was the janitor and bartended at the Country Club.” In March, Jon, their first of three babies was born.
Phil was licensed in New York and California. To mend relations with his family he worked for his father’s firm in New York from 1967-76. The firm represented clients like Bank of America, railroads and utilities, but Phil would get the pro bono (free of charge) cases. He became involved in local politics and eventually was considered for Congress during the Nixon corruption era. He was glad the other candidate won. “New York politics left a bad taste,” he said. Meanwhile, his wife was tired raising their children alone and one day said, “I’m going home. You can come if you want.” He and Jon casually followed while touring the USA checking out historic sites and ski resorts.
Phil would establish and build his own law firm, Hornburg, Gaebe & Hannah, Inc., in Visalia. When Sandy and Phil both became single, they gravitated to each other and married. Sandy says, “As a couple, we are like Hessian fighters always wanting the last word and thinking we know it all, and yet, we get along anyway.” But that could be a sequel to this story!
As of today in Morro Bay, they have both actively served separate terms on the Colmer home-owners association, supported the Morro Bay Maritime Museum future growth, and recently committed to regular volunteer positions with the Morro Bay Active Seniors.
