Rosemary King

Jan. 2, 1924 – April 15, 2020

Rosemary A. King died April 15, 2020, at Wheatland Village in Walla Walla, Washington. Her birthday was Jan. 2, 1924, near Mt. Vernon, Oregon, to James L. and Edith Schrier. She was next to the youngest child in a family with six children.

Rosemary grew up on a cattle ranch near Mt. Vernon, graduating from Mt. Vernon High School as valedictorian of her class in 1942. After graduation she attended NYA School in Pendleton, Oregon, and then worked at Pendleton Field as a secretary in Special Services until the Air Base closed. She then worked at Knob Hill Pharmacy in Portland, Oregon.

On Sept. 10, 1945, Rosemary married Dennis J. King at her father’s home in Mt. Vernon, Oregon. They made their home on a ranch west of Long Creek, Oregon, raising registered, horned Hereford cattle for over 40 years.

Mrs. King enjoyed participating in Home Extension for a number of years. She was a long-time exhibitor at the Grant County Fair, most particularly in the home economics division, winning champions and a trophy for her angel-food cakes. Also, for a few years she served as a 4-H cooking leader, teaching youth how to exhibit at the fair. The real joy of her life was preparing made-from-scratch meals, from their home-grown produce for her family, friends and summer hay-hands. In her later years she enjoyed her cats, garage sales and hobbies of refunding and coupon shopping and attending the Adams Community Church.

Mrs. King was a hard-working homemaker, sewing, gardening, canning and freezing produce, selling eggs, plucking chickens for chicken’n’dumplings, churning butter and all of the other chores that go with living off the land. In 1968, after her two daughters were grown, she went to work for the U.S. Postal Service. She was appointed Postmaster in 1982 and served in that capacity until retiring in 1986, after which she and her husband moved to an acreage near Milton-Freewater, Oregon, where Mr. King kept a few head of their Hereford cows. After Mr. King suffered a heart-attack in 2003, the Kings moved to Athena, Oregon, near a daughter for nine years. In recent years Mrs. King has lived in Walla Walla, Washington, near the other daughter as her health has failed.

Mrs. King was preceded in death by Mr. King, her parents, two brothers and two sisters. She is survived by one sister, Kay Swanson, and by two daughters, Edith Elligsen Smith of Athena and Terry Thunell and her husband, John (Bud) Thunell, of Walla Walla, as well as numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives.

A private burial service will be held at Olney Cemetery in Pendleton, Oregon. A public memorial service will be held at the Adams Community Church when the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. Meantime, memorial gifts can be made to the Adams Community Church, Box 34, Adams, OR 97810 or to the Blue Mountain Humane Society of Walla Walla. Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home of Milton-Freewater is in charge of the arrangements. To leave a condolence online, visit munsellerhodes.com.