Thomas LeRoy King

Thomas “Tom” King, also known as “Tikers” to some, passed away on February 25, 2015 in Seattle, WA. He was born on February 10, 1938 in Seattle, the son of Alvin and Arleen (Stapleton) King. Tom grew up in the Des Moines area, working at his father’s service stations in Federal Way, WA. Tom’s family also owned and operated King’s Amusements, a traveling carnival. The family travelled every summer setting up carnival rides and games, all over the Northwest. The traveling carnival days continued until his father’s passing in 1973. For the next 5 years the family settled down and operated the Birch Bay Amusement Park in Birch Bay, WA.

In 1960, Tom married the love of his life, Leyvonne Lee, and they enjoyed spending their lives together. They bought a house in the Edgewood area, near Five Mile Lake. Here they raised their 3 children. Tom was very successful working at Boeing as a lead mechanic. During this time, he also worked in the “Black Hole”, secretive at the time, where he worked on the B2 Stealth Bomber. At the age of 55 he retired from Boeing after 34 years of service. He was continuously rewarded for his creative ideas to save the company money, by suggesting his ideas to be more efficient.

After his retirement, he and his wife Le, purchased 5 acres of land with a view of Mt Rainier, in Graham, WA. There they built the house of their dreams. It was complete with a studio for her upstairs and a cellar down below for the antiques they had collected. A family pool table was there, reminiscent of the days when they played in billiard leagues. Tom would spend hours and hours maintaining the large yard of grass and trees.

Tom was also mechanically minded at home, and enjoyed tinkering on cars, fixing them up to run like they did when new. He was the type of person who always had to be doing something. They travelled to many locations together, but especially enjoyed their trip to Europe, and drive through historic Route 66. He also enjoyed horse racing and watching and listening to live music from the 1950s & 60s.

Tom was preceded in death by his wife Leyvonne in 2001. He is survived by his 3 children, Kelley King and wife, Lori of Tustin, CA, Lonny King of Seattle and Cami King-Palmer and husband, Rick of Federal Way; his grandchildren Alexis King, Kelsey King, Kenzie Palmer and Morgan Palmer; and his sisters Jean Anderson & Judy Schaffer. The funeral service for Thomas King will be held on Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. at the Price-Helton Funeral Home in Auburn, WA.