John Curtis King was born in North Platte, Nebraska in 1926 and passed away on December 28, 2011. He was a man of great enthusiasm, with big ideas and a big heart to match.
His accomplishments include service in the U.S. Navy during World War II and a 25-year teaching career. He married Eunice Ann Bowes in 1949, whom he met during their studies at Pasadena College.
He was an entrepreneur who started young - selling his mother's baked goods from his childhood wagon - and went on to work as a local farmer and to develop commercial real estate. His entrepreneurial vision extended to the church. He and Eunice were honored by the Church of the Nazarene with the 2002 Bert Rhodes Award for their work creating the Nazarene LANDS Inc., an organization that expanded local ministries through low interest loans and the acquisition of new properties.
Nearly everyone he met walked away with a scripture tract, including puzzles he helped to design in English and Spanish. He once reflected that tracts leave a mark just like a rabbit "leaves its tracks behind in the snow."
He is preceded in death by his mother and father, and his wife Eunice. John is survived by siblings Joan Headrick, Mayrene Kottas and Gary King, as well as daughter Linda Kern (husband Gary), Jeannette Beeson (husband Ty), and Karen Chapman (husband Jeff), and grandchildren Darcy and Courtney Kern, Tyler and Allison Beeson, Jana (Gates), John and Jeffrey Chapman, and great-granddaughter Vivienne Gates. He is also survived by honorary daughter Cindy Liu, whom he met during a visit to China. John and Eunice sponsored her arrival to the United States, and she is now an elementary school teacher in Minnesota.
A special thanks to Dr. Nirbhai Hundal, the staff at Bel-Air Lodge and Samaritan Village, and the friends and family who were an encouragement to him.
A graveside service will be at 11 am on Saturday at Turlock Memorial Park. We invite you to share with us in a lunch reception at the Connecting Point Church of the Nazarene (3200 E Monte Vista Avenue, Denair) In Lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in John's name to Connecting Point Church of the Nazarene.
Please share your memories at www.allenmortuary.com.
Turlock Journal
Saturday, December 31, 2011
