Tom King was born in San Francisco, California, Sept. 29, 1935, and died in Sparks, Nevada, Jan. 21, 2024. He was 88.
The third of four children, his parents, Ruth Garvin King and Walter Joseph King, raised their children in San Francisco. Tom described it as a neighborhood of working-class people in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tom graduated from University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in chemistry, but he always liked mathematics and got his Master of Arts degree in mathematics from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
Tom came with his wife Alice to Quincy in 1992, from southern California, where he taught mathematics at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He was happy to escape the traffic and hubbub of southern California. Even though he grew up in San Francisco and then lived in the Los Angeles suburbs, he easily took to the quiet life of living in the mountains. Tom enjoyed going into the forest to get firewood for the winter; putting in a garden each spring; building a woodshed, a garden shed, and a structure to house his sailboat which, somehow, he never got into the water.
Tom loved studying, reading every book he could get his hands on. He filled multiple bookshelves in the house with history books, especially books about the Roman Empire, Civil War, and World War II. He also had many books of classical literature.
Unfortunately, during his last years, dementia robbed him of his wonderful brain, but he still kept his beautiful smile. He spent his last few months at Arbors Memory Care in Sparks, Nevada, where he
received loving, attentive care, and where they always commented on his wonderful smile.
Tom was preceded in death by his brother, Jerry King, and his sisters, Nancy Pola and Dolores Thomas. He is survived by his wife, Alice; his daughters Tasha King, Molly Brown, and Aran King; his
step-daughters Carol Quintana and Marie Huffman; his grandchildren Juliana Kavanagh and John Kavanagh; his step-grandchildren Quetzal Quintana, Chel Quintana, Ariel Quintana, Bazika Huffman-Kinyalolo, and Bililo Huffman-Kinyalolo; step-great-grandchildren Kai, Lia, and Beau; as well as many nieces and nephews and their families, and the families of all those mentioned here.
A celebration of Tom’s life will be held in the spring. Gifts in memory of Tom may be made to the Feather River Land Trust or a charity of one’s own choosing.
