Richard H. "Dick" King's Obituary
Hello, good people!
It’s a significant accomplishment to live for 98 years, and while Dick King hoped to make it to 102, that wasn’t in the cards. He died on May 8, 2024, at Poppen Hospice Residence in Muskegon.
With his bright blue eyes and a sly grin, Dick was the ultimate carefree man, which may have contributed to his longevity. Growing up all around Michigan, but mostly in the UP and Traverse City, he loved this state—fishing and meandering wherever an adventure might take him.
Dick enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1944 and his military service during World War II took him to China, Guam and Iwo Jima. We don’t know much about his time in the service other than he said it was awful. He witnessed the American flag raised on Iwo Jima from an offshore ship. While the war wasn’t anything he wanted to discuss, he was very proud to be a Marine and often wore his Marine Corps cap over his bright white flat top.
Before the war, he worked on Great Lakes freighters, was a Culligan man, and sold barber supplies. He and his wife Dorothy owned the Drift Inn bar in Baraga, MI. They lived on the “farm” up in Baraga and summered at their fish camp on Big Lake near L’Anse and together they loved driving the back roads of the UP in Dick’s Lincoln, looking for wild blueberries.
After Dorothy died in 2000, he relocated to Muskegon to share a home with his twin brother Bob. Together, they traveled and enjoyed warm places in the winter, including Key West, New Orleans and St. John US Virgin Islands. Dick enjoyed the outdoors—fishing, gardening, mowing and shoveling snow. Dick was an avid reader of Western and thriller novels and enjoyed the challenge of a word search or picture puzzle.
He was also a dedicated beer drinker who believed Stroh's was the best beer ever brewed, and he never gave up on the Detroit Lions.
After Bob’s death and during the pandemic, Dick moved in with his niece Roberta King and her husband Mike Miesch. Together they lived happily until Dick’s death, enjoying the simplicity of being a small family of older adults. During the years together, they played thousands of hands of cards, traveled to Key West, Milwaukee, and the UP, and made road trips to drink beer around Michigan.
Dick was born in Marquette, MI, on March 9, 1926, to Alice (Smith) King and Ben C. King. Two brothers preceded him in death—Bob and Bill King. His beloved great nephews, Noah Miesch and Ian Tahtinen also preceded him in death.
Dick leaves behind Roberta King and nephew-in-law, Mike Miesch of Muskegon; nieces, Cherie (Derrick) Banks of Waldorf, MD; Michelle (Michael) Sanford of Forest Lake, MN; nephews, Todd (Kim) King of Livonia and Scott (Michelle) King of Stuart, FL and Jim (Sandy) Tahtinen of Marquette. His life was made better by caregivers and neighbors—Maggie Carlson, Pat Vorac, Tommy Allen and Craig and Jean Weirich.
Services:
A celebration of Dick’s life will be held on May 22, 2024 at 2:00 PM at The Lee Chapel of Sytsema Funeral & Cremation Services, 6291 S. Harvey St., Norton Shores, MI 49444.
Dick will join Dorothy at the cemetery in Baraga this summer, where a graveside remembrance will be held.
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