In 1972, the Hortons opened A Beka Book, named after Rebekah Horton. It has grown into the world’s largest Christian textbook publisher, supplying textbooks, curriculum and teaching materials to more than 10,000 Christian schools and more than 100,000 children who are home-schooled.

Dr. Arlin Horton and his wife, Rebekah, the devoted couple who built Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola Christian Academy and a Christian publishing company into national powerhouses in religious education as well as one of the area’s most potent economic forces, will retire at the end of the school ye

Dr. Horton, 83, the college’s president, and his wife, who is 82 and the senior vice president, announced Thursday that they will step down the day after May graduation at the college they grew from 100 students in 1974 to 3,800 students last fall.

The Hortons’ names have been synonymous with Christian education in Pensacola since they moved here in 1952 at the request of a local group that wanted to start a Christian school.

Pensacola Christian College Inc. brought in more than $84.4 million in revenue in 2009-10 and had expenses of $72.8 million, according to the most recent publicly filed nonprofit annual reports.

But the two leaders, married 61 years, have remained exceedingly private, loathe to foist their beliefs on the community and content to carry out their life’s dream.

“It’s the end of an era for us, but we’re so grateful to have had Dr. Horton’s leadership for so long,” Phyliss Rand, PCC’s dean of education, said Thursday.

Troy Shoemaker, PCC’s vice president for academic affairs, will become president of the college on May 10. A 1989 graduate of the college and 16-year administrator at the academy, he was unanimously chosen by the college’s board of trustees.

Horton told PCC students on Feb. 7 that he and his wife started thinking about retirement in spring 2011. The couple were not available for comment Thursday.

In a rare interview 11 years ago, Arlin Horton spoke of the success of the academic institutions and the publishing company.

“The Lord has been very good to us,” he said. “We are amazed. No one is more amazed than we are. We never expected it.”

The news of the Hortons’ retirement was a surprise to a number of local people who cannot imagine Pensacola Christian without them in charge.