John L. KING

KING, ELLIS, KING, BRINK, LEITHOFF, WINTER, BARKEMA, MCDOWELL, VAUGHAN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/8/2010 at 18:53:05

Belmond Independent, Iowa
September 5, 2001

John L. King, 97, died Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 at the Concord Care Center in Garner. A prayer service was held Wednesday, Aug. 29, at the Tenold Funeral Home in Klemme, with Pastor Paddy Druhl of the United Methodist Church in Klemme, officiating. Funeral services were held at Murdo, SD, on Saturday, Sept. 1, with Rev. Morris Nelson officiating. Casket bearers were the grandchildren. Interment was at Murdo Cemetery near Murdo, SD.

John L. King was born May 14, 1904 in Villisca, the son of John Leonard King, Sr., and Edna (Ellis) King Brink. He moved to South Dakota in his teen years, where he was engaged in ranching. He married Emma Leithoff in 1924. In 1936 he moved to Murdo, SD, where he was involved in plumbing and construction. During World War II he was a welding foreman, building ships in Seneca, IL. In 1945 he moved back to Murdo, where he managed the water department and did police work. After retirement from the city, he did maintenance at a housing unit. He was a charter member of the Murdo Senior Citizens, served on the trustee board for the Methodist Church, and in 1987 he received the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Masonic Lodge. His hobbies included hunting and fishing. He had been making his home with his daughter in Klemme since 1996.

John was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Emma; an infant daughter; one sister; and a half-brother. He is survived by three children, Willis King of Apache Junction, AZ, Don King and his wife Karen of Apache Junction, AZ, and Helen Winter of Klemme; grandchildren, Pamela Barkema, Stephen, Dennis and Roger Winter, Greg, Jeff and Richard King; one step-granddaughter, Dreana McDowell; 14 great grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; one sister, Leona Vaughan of Rapid City, SD.