KING, Oma 1874-1968

KING, KENYON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/15/2016 at 18:19:10

Mrs. E. S. King Pioneer Resident Died Sunday

Mrs. E. S. King, who would have been 94 years old on July 26, passed away at the Sunset Rest Home, Park Rapids, Minn., Sunday, June 30. She had resided at the Home for past 2 1/2 years.

Funeral services were held Tuesday at the Ferree-Abbas Funeral Home in Grundy Center. Burial was in the family plot in the Grundy Center cemetery. Rev. J. C. Ford officiated.

Oma Georgia Kenyon was born July 26, 1874, in Felicity, Ohio, the twelfth child of Volney and Lucinda Kenyon. She was 18 months old when the parents left the Ohio home for Grundy Center, Iowa, in 1876.

Mrs. King's education was acquired in the Grundy Center school, from which she graduated in 1893--the second class to graduate. After her graduation she taught in the rural schools with a salary of $30 per month until her marriage to Edwin S. King, the son of the late Agnes and John S. King, August 27, 1895. The wedding trip was taken in a spring wagon to a fine new farm home in Clay township, where they lived until 1912. Then they moved to Grundy Center to help care for Mr. King's mother and to have access to a good public school for their children.

In Mrs. King's early and late years, she was very active in community organizations which included the Baptist church, the Order of Eastern Star, Ruth Chapter; P.E.O. Chapter AR Sisterhood and the Legion Auxiliary charter member.

At the age of 14 she became a member of her church and was very active in its Aid Society serving as the Society's president for some time. The Order of Eastern Star claimed her membership since 1901 and served as an officer of that organization for several years. During this time she advanced to life member and received a beautiful 50-years pin. An active member of the P.E.O. Chapter AR for 55 years, Mrs. King served as its president and she served as historian since 1939.

As a charter member of the Legion Auxiliary, she had assisted in the writing of the first by-laws.

Mrs. King was a faithful worker in many organizations until she was needed to help care for her elderly loved ones.

Oma King was the mother of four children: Raena King Teter, who passed away Jan. 26, 1951; Kenyon V. King of Atlantic, Iowa; Edwin S. King Jr. of Smyrna, Georgia, and Donald E. King of Park Rapids, Minn. She had 6 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 4 July 1968, pg 5