Jimmie King

Jimmie Dean King died on Monday, January 16, 2023 after a brief illness.

Jim was born in Centerville, Iowa on February 16, 1941 to Bernice and Bill King. Yes, he was a corn-loving mid-western youngster, but very soon the family moved, with Jimmie and his sister, Dixie, in tow to Tooele, Utah, where Jim grew up in a neighborhood of Catholic Greek immigrants and Mormon working-class families under the shadow of Settlement Canyon and just off the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake. Jim loved the wide-open spaces and the feel of the open road flying under his red MGB convertible as he flew up twisting mountain roads.

He worked his way through the University of Utah and, the year of his graduation with a degree in accounting, married Judith Ambrose. Jim sold the MGB and adopted Judy’s 4-year-old son, Ronald Paul. Their family was started. His work with the Rural Electrification Administration as an accountant set his new family on a peripatetic path, moving them, now in a Chevy Camaro, from Utah to Montana to Washington, DC (where their daughter, Michele Rene, was born and where they traded in the Camaro for a VW Bus) and North Carolina. Jim finally left the nomadic life of REA when they landed in New Hampshire. He traded in the VW Bus for a BMW 2002 and, later, a VW Rabbit and a Datsun pickup. He took work, first as an accountant for a Kenworth dealership, and then with The United Life Accident Insurance Company. The family bought their first home in Bow, NH.

But the peripatetic life wasn’t over yet. A job change, now as Controller for a small telephone company, brought the family to Ada, MN, where Jim served on the School Board, learned to ride horses as he shepherded Michele’s barrel racing dreams, traded in that foreign model for a Buick, played a lot of golf, and raised his two children for the next two decades. In the late-90s, Jim and Judy left Ada and relocated to Mitchel, SD, then to Barron, WI, and then Sauk Center, MN, where Jim retired, and the two built their new lives near Michele and her three girls. They bought a Honda Odyssey, with the plate 4RGKIDS, and settled into full-time grandparenting. It was their devotion to their grandchildren that eventually brought them to Fergus Falls in 2014.

Jim loved Cowboy Action Shooting where he loaded his own shells, cultivated a bow-legged stride, sported a black hat, and was known as “The Cameron Kid.” He was a proud member of the NRA, liked gardening and birdwatching, and enjoyed working with and decorating leather belts, vests, and holsters. After Judy’s death in 2015, Jim remained close to his grandchildren and lived a quiet but content life on Springen Avenue. He is succeeded by his son, Ron (Suzanne) of Kittery, ME; his daughter, Michele of Fergus Falls; his grandchildren: Colby, Carter, and Dylan King, and Alison, Megan, and Kate Hughes; and his sister, Dixie Williams of Mt. Pleasant, UT. He is predeceased by his wife, Judy King, his mother, Bernice Johnson, and his favorite dog, Sophie.

Memorial Service: 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 11, 2023 at Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls, with visitation one-hour prior to the service.

Arrangements provided by Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls.
Online condolences may be sent to www.olsonfuneralhome.com