John David King

John was born in Abilene, Kansas, on February 24, 1926, to Fred J. King and Grace Katherine Smith. He attended Elementary and High School in Lyndon, Kansas. John was inducted into the Army Air Force in 1944, receiving an Honorable Discharge in 1946. He graduated from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1950 with a major in Journalism. He also graduated from the School of Medicine there in 1954 with an M.D. degree. He spent one year of rotating internship at Wesley Hospital in Wichita, Kansas. After this, he was in General Practice until 1957. He did a residency in Pathology (Anatomic and Clinical) at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1957 until 1961, receiving Board Certification in Anatomic Pathology in 1961 and Clinical Pathology in 1962. He was a Fellow in the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the College of American Pathologists. He was a member of the Illinois Society of Pathologists and the American Medical Association. From 1954 to 1977, he had many publications, including those in JAMA. He practiced general pathology at Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford, Illinois, where he met his wife, Connie. He was a Consulting Pathologist at the H. Douglas Singer Hospital in Rockford and a Clinical Instructor at the Rockford School of Medicine, the latter appointment being transferred to the Peoria School of Medicine in 1977. He and Connie were married in Rockford in 1973. They later moved to Peoria, Illinois, where he joined the Department of Pathology at St. Francis Hospital. He retired from the practice of medicine in 1981.

The art of Bonsai was always of interest to John and Connie. They attended many shows in the Chicago area while living in Rockford. Then they were active in the Peoria Bonsai Society while living there. They moved to Austin, Texas, in 1989, where they were active members of the Austin Bonsai Society. Among their many travels were two Earth Watch adventures in archeology. One in Honduras at Copan, a Mayan ruin, and one in Northern England at Hadrian's Wall. They were involved in various volunteer work in Illinois and in Austin. They supported the Austin Symphony Orchestra and Mount Olive Lutheran Church. After John retired, he worked on a book of fiction, Just Out of Curiosity, which was published in 2018. There are copies in Querencia’s Library. John and Connie moved to Querencia in November of 2016.

He leaves wife, Connie, a daughter, Tamara (husband Alan), granddaughters Heather George (James) and Abi Smith (Patrick). Also, a niece, Judith Heinrich (Bradley), and step-granddaughters Charisse LaRoche, Shaina Holmgren, and Stephanie King, and five great-grandchildren.