Mr. King had a distinguished life most of which he spent in the United States Army retiring in 1983 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He did his undergraduate work at Lenoir Rhyne College (now Lenoir Rhyne University) in Hickory, NC, graduating in 1955. He did his graduate work at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC, graduating in 1958 with a Master of Divinity degree. He attended Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY, receiving a Master of Arts in Sociology in 1973. He did doctoral studies at Arizona State University, Temple, AZ. He also attended George Washington University in Washington, DC.
He began his professional life as a Pastor of Mt. Zion and New Bethel Lutheran Churches, Richfield, NC in 1958, having been ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina in 1958. In 1959, he moved to Charlotte, NC where he founded St. Thomas Lutheran Church. He entered the Army Reserves in 1962 and was ordered to active duty in 1963 as a Chaplain. During his military career he attended the US Army Chaplain Basic School in 1963 and the US Army Chaplain Advanced Course at Fort Hamilton, NY, in 1972. In addition, he graduated from the US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, in 1975. He also attended the Department of Defense Race Relations at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, where he did his field work in the Liberty City area in Miami, FL. He served at Army Bases in Arkansas, Virginia, Alaska, South Carolina, Arizona and New Mexico. He had two Tours of duty in Korea where he learned to speak fluently in the Korean language. In addition he had a combat tour in Vietnam where he was an Artillery Group Chaplain as well as the Base Chaplain for Phu Loi Base. He was known Army-wide for his skill in diffusing serious racial confrontations in the military community. He was decorated by the military receiving two Bronze Stars and an Air Medal for Combat Operations. He also received two Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Korean Defense Service Medal. He also received the Army Service Medal with a “20 year Hour Glass.” In addition he was also decorated three times by the Republic of Vietnam including an Honor Medal, First Class, for bravery. During his career he was Project Officer in the construction of the main Post Chapel at Fort Huachuca, AZ, which cost more than 1.5 million dollars. He also did civic work during his combat tour in Vietnam by assisting in the construction of a village for 5000 Vietnamese refugees whose villages had been destroyed in the fight for the Bo Loi Woods and Hobo Woods area. He also helped in the reconstruction of the Phu Cuong Elementary School which had been destroyed by artillery fire. He secured typewriters for the Lai Thieu School for deaf girls to aid in their becoming secretaries, and he donated funds to the Ben Son Leprosarium to assist in the care of the patients there.
Following his military career, he moved to Raleigh where he became an Investigator for the Equal Employment Security Commission. For health reasons, he was forced to retire from that position in 1995.
Mr. King is survived by, his loving wife of 58 years, Harriette Collins King; his daughter Elizabeth C. King; his brother William J. King (Cynthia); brothers-in-law, Hume S. Collins (Janette) and Michael L. Collins (Sondra); 5 nieces, 3 nephews, 5 great nieces and 1 great, great nephew. He was predeceased by his daughter, Patricia L. King.
A memorial service to celebrate Mr. King’s life will be held Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 2:00 pm at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 1701 E. Millbrook Rd., Raleigh NC 27609. Inurnment will be at Salisbury National Cemetery on Friday, June 21, 2013 at 1:00 pm with full military honors.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project.
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