George Willard King

Colonel George Willard King, USAF Retired, of Williamsburg, VA died on July 3, 2026 at the Hadley House. He was born March 15, 1934 at Battle Creek, MI, son of Rev. Dr. James King and Hilda Maud Graham. He grew up in Lowell and Wenham, Massachusetts and graduated from Beverly High School in 1951.

After his freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he transferred to Tufts University where he graduated in 1955. While at Tufts he was president of the university chorus for two years and worked for Boston's Handel and Hayden Society, both under the direction of Thompson Stone.

When Colonel King graduated from Tufts University, he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, USAF, via the ROTC program. Col. King's first Air Force assignment was to MIT where he completed a 9 month post graduate meteorology program. While at MIT he married Anne Lee Kiddy, his college sweetheart who would become his lifelong loving companion.

After serving for several years as an Air Force meteorologist, Colonel King returned to MIT where he earned a master’s degree in meteorology in 1966. His last assignment as a meteorologist was as Commander, 10th Weather Squadron where he was responsible for meteorological support to all Air Force test ranges and laboratories and was single manager of the Air Force Rocketsonde Network.

In 1978 Colonel King and his wife Anne were assigned to Ramstein Air Base, Germany where he transitioned to computer support to the intelligence community. His last Air Force assignment was at Bolling Air Force Base, DC where he was single manager of the Air Force Intelligence Data Handling System. He retired in 1985 with thirty years of service to his country. Colonel King's awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with two oak leaf clusters, and the small arms expert marksmanship ribbon. Throughout his Air Force career Anne followed him faithfully, working as an operating room nurse (CNOR) when his assignments permitted.

Following the Air Force, Colonel King worked for eight years in Northern Virginia as a senior computer scientist on contract to a major Federal Government Agency.

In 1993 George and Anne retired to Williamsburg where they built their dream home, a tidewater colonial, in the Queens Lake community. He was active in the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, serving as Trustee, Elder, Clerk of Session, and member of the Worship Ministry and sanctuary building committees. He was also active in the Christopher Wren Association (now Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at William & Mary) where he served as Finance Chair and President as well as instructor in the Internet for Genealogy.

George was proud of his early colonial heritage. In addition to his Mayflower ancestry, he was a descendant of Edmund Rice who founded Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1639. He was a life member of the Edmund Rice (1638) Association where he served for many years as Historian, Vice President and co-coordinator of the Rice surname DNA project.

Colonel King is survived by his loving and faithful wife, Anne Lee King; sons, Philip "Phil" Graham and Sharmila of Davis, CA and Stanley "Stan" and Gayle of Excelsior, MN; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will take place on Friday, July 17 at 10:30 AM at WindsorMeade of Williamsburg.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund (www.mywpc.org).