Dr. Richard Patrick King, 94, was born October 9, 1915, in Chicago, IL, the son of Dr. Owen and Etta (Piersol) King. He passed away peacefully Thursday, April 29, 2010, at Hilo Medical Center, Hilo, Hawaii.

Richard grew up in Aberdeen, SD, where he graduated from high school in 1933. After graduation he attended Northern State University in Aberdeen and Creighton University in Omaha. His studies were interrupted when he joined the U.S. Navy, where he attended flight training school in Pensacola, FL. During WW II he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander as a Naval pilot, serving in the Caribbean and China. During a mission out of Trinidad in early 1942, he was severely injured and was the sole survivor of a plane crash that claimed the lives of the other eleven members of the crew.

He was united in marriage to LaVale Throm in 1941, and they went on to have three sons. He continued his education after the war, earning his Bachelors and Masters degrees from North Dakota State University, and his Doctoral degree in Animal Nutrition from Iowa State University. He spent the next thirty years as a college educator, finishing his teaching career as Professor of Chemistry at Hiram Scott College in Scottsbluff, NE. He remarried in 1971, to Edith Frazier and resided in Hot Springs, SD, until her death in 2001. His final nine years were spent in southern California and Hawaii.

Richard was preceded in death by LaVale and Edith; his parents; his brother, Owen, Jr.; and his granddaughter, Dana (King) Ceretti.

Left to honor his memory are his sons, Phillip (Diane) of Statesboro, GA; James (Joy) of Hilo, HI; and Jeffrey (Jodi) of Newton, IA; his four grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.

Committal services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, May 13, 2010, at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD.

Arrangements have been placed in the care McColley's Chapel of the Hills in Hot Springs, SD. Written condolences can be made at www.mccolleyschapels.com.