John King, Jr.

Waynesville, John (Jack) Monroe King, Jr., 92, passed away on Wednesday, July 1, 2015. Born in Ridgefield, New Jersey on November 2, 1922, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia when he was about 12 years old. After graduating high school, Jack attended North Georgia College studying pre-med dentistry and spent his weekends roaming the mountains of north Georgia. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 occurred, he dropped his studies to join the Navy. After an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1946, Jack returned to college on the G.I. Bill. This time he went to the University of Georgia where he found his true calling. Jack graduated from UGA with a degree in agriculture and took a job mapping soils for the USDA's Soil Conservation Service. His first job assignment was in eastern North Carolina where friends introduced him to a young extension agent, Ms. Elizabeth Lewis Register. Jack and "Libby" were married in 1950 and started a family. Jack's job eventually took him to Haywood County, back to the mountains he so loved, and where he and Libby would spend the rest of their lives together. Jack retired from the Soil Conservation Service in 1983 with over 35 years of government service to his credit. Still a young and energetic man, he began a second career starting a garden center, Mountain View Nursery, and a tree farm, now an organic vegetable farm, King Harvest Farm. These businesses are still run by Jack's sons and their families. Jack spent endless hours volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, meals on wheels and helping with landscaping at First United Methodist Church. John Monroe King Jr. was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Elizabeth, who died in September 2013, and by a son, John M. King III who died in 2005. He is survived by three sons, Steve King and his wife Terry of Canton, Jim King and his wife, Anna, of Waynesville and Lee King and his wife, Benee, of Raleigh; a daughter, Cathy King, of Winston Salem; four grandsons, Josh, Elijah, Logan, and Davis and two granddaughters, Genny, and Anna; and one great-granddaughter, Scarlett. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17, 2015 at Waynesville First United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the Faith Classroom. Memorials may be made to the Waynesville First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 838, Waynesville, NC 28786.

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