KING, Edwin S. 1870-1960

KING, KENYON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/15/2016 at 06:42:28

Services Friday For E. S. King

Funeral services were held Friday in First Baptist church, in Grundy Center for Edwin S. King who passed away at his home Wednesday morning. He was 89 years of age. He was a resident of the county for 79 years. Death came from complications of old age.

Burial was in the Rosehill cemetery.

Casketbearers were Clark Vaughan, Edward Simms, Eugene Plager, A. V. Dieken, J. Clyde Smith and Bliss Willoughby.

Honorary bearers were Fenton Lynn, C. S. Macy, Charles Brockway, Robert Plager, Joe Bergman and R. R. Clark.

Attending the services from out of town were Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon King of Atlantic, Iowa; Mr. and Mrs. Don King of Park Rapids, Minn.; Eugene Teter of St. Louis; Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Cole of Cedar Falls, Mr. and Mrs. Theo. Allison of Waterloo, Mrs. Lucille Wood and Mrs. Helen Gould of Conrad; Mr. and Mrs. Dean McMartin and Mr. and Mrs. John Wood of Beaman, and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Osterholz of Waukon.

Obituary
Edwin S. King, one of the early residents of Grundy Center, was born July 10, 1870, in Clayton, Ia. When 11 years old he, with his parents J. S. and Agnes King, came to Grundy county to farm in Clay township in 1881.

After attending the Grundy Center school, he attended Iowa State College where he selected the science and agriculture course and majored in chemistry. After graduation in 1891 he was placed in the chemical department of the Experimental station, where he worked for six months. By his father's request, he left Ames to assist on their large stock farm in Clay township. He was a stock farmer for 35 years. The parents moved from the farm to Grundy Center in 1892 and Edwin continued to supervise the farm.

Edwin S. King and Oma G. Kenyon were married August 27, 1895, and moved to that farm. In 1912, Mr. and Mrs. King moved to the old home town for better conveniences, for their children's schooling in high school, and to assist in the care of his widowed mother.

Before leaving the farm, Edwin and his brother Ray were active in promoting the first rural telephone line connected with the Grundy Center telephone central.

The need for rural mail delivery was encouraged by him and was received in the county in 1898. The first mail carrier was Charles Wald, who drove a fifty-mile circuit with a team of mules. This route was named Rural Free Delivery No. 1 and today is still RFD No. 1.

Mr. King served 14 years as a trustee for the township and was a director of the King school district several years.

A Farmer's Institute was organized with his efforts in 1900 and he acted as its president. Much was accomplished by this organization which sought to improve the quality of corn and other grains. Learning from Ames the qualifications of the Farm Bureau, Mr. King was able to give much help in organizing such an organization in this community.

With a desire for good schools, he also was an enthusiastic promoter of the P.T.A. Thru many of his efforts and much of his assistance, the local organization was instituted in our local school. He was a director of the Grundy Center school board for six years and a director of the Grundy County Bank for 53 years, where he was employed from 1912 to 1914. He acted as a guard for 4 years at the Hemp Mill until it closed after World War II. He has taken a keen interest in the Grundy Center Cemetery Assn., served as its president for several years, and at the time of his death was still a member of the board.

Mr. King was a lineman for the Rural Electric Association and a member of the Inheritance Tax Board for 11 years. During World War I he served on the draft board.

Mr. King was a member of the Baptist church. He was a devoted member of Masonic Lodge No. 334 for 63 years and received his life membership in 1945. In his earlier years he was very active in several offices and faithful in all activities of the Order of Eastern Star. Mr. King was a progressive man of thought in both farm and town activities in an honorable way.

Those who survive him are his wife; his three sons, Kenyon V., Atlantic, Iowa; Edwin S., Cucaconga, Calif.; Donald, Park Rapids, Minn. A daughter, Raena K. Teter preceded him in death on Jan. 17, 1951. Mr. King had six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The daughter's son Eugene Teter was present for this service.

Once again a beautiful home is broken, one upon which for over 65 years God's sign of approval has been set, where His name was loved and honored, where earthly human love has been the sceptre which has swayed the lives within years of wedded life. The master all down through these happy 65 of this earthly habitation has been called to "the Heavenly House not made with hands."

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 17 March 1960, pg 8