Walter Ferdinand King

OBITUARY OF W. F. KING

W. F. King, Former Mayor, Died Sunday

Walter Ferdinand King, 74, died at the home of his son, Roy B. King, here Sunday night after only a few days’ illness. He was bom at Trenton, in Phillips County, and spent some years in that county teaching school. He was married to Miss Betty Brown at Indian Bay in 1892, who lived only a few years, leaving him two small children at her death. In 1902 he was married to Miss Myrtle Gay Houser at Clarendon, who survives him.

He is also survived by three sons, Stanhope H. King of Shreveport, La., Roy B. King of this city, James C. King of Abilene, Texas; and by two daughters, Mrs. Lillie Mae Eccleson of Albany, N. Y., and Mrs. H. N. Lea of Abilene, Texas, and by a number of grandchildren, including Mrs. Comelius Vanderbilt III of Staten Island, N. Y., and Mrs. Elizabeth Jerome of Providence, R. I. Also surviving him are two brothers, John King of Helena, and Albert King of Los Angeles, Calif.

His father was Major S. H. King of the Confederate Army and he was a nephew of Mrs. Ella King Newsome of Mississipi, who gave everything she had and established hospitals at Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, and at Milledgeville, Ga., and was known as the “Florence Nightingale of the South” during the Civil War.

He was engaged in the mercantile business in Clarendon for about 25 years, and was book-keeper for the Choctaw Transportation Company for a number of years. He also served as mayor of Clarendon for 6 years from 1932 to 1938, since which time he had been retired due to failing health. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist Church and was Sunday school superintendent for a number of years.

Funeral services were held from the First Baptist Church here at 10:00 Tuesday morning by the Rev. L. R. Joiner, pastor, assisted by Rev. J. T. Randle pastor of the Methodist church and Rev. J. B. Bradley pastor of the Presbyterian church. Interment was in Shady Grove with Brown Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.