Patricia "Pat" Pemberton King

Patricia Pemberton King, age 79 of Albia, died Friday, November 18, 2011 at her home in Albia, under the care of Hospice of Monroe County. Pat was born in Magnolia, Minnesota in 1932 to Richard Kenneth Pemberton and Mabel Rogne Pemberton. She grew up in Des Moines and lived most her life in Albia. She attended Iowa Wesleyan College, where she met her husband-to-be, James Emery King, at the swimming pool. After she taught school for a year they were married, on June 8, 1952 in Des Moines. Pat is survived by her husband; daughter, Laurie King and son-in-law, Jim Shubin of Novato, CA; and a grandson, Austin Ferguson of San Francisco, CA. Her son, John Kenneth King was killed in a traffic accident in 1996. She is also survived by Alejandro Gonzalez; a Venezuelan exchange student who lived with the Kings and graduated with John. He resides in New Jersey with his wife, Olexis, and children, Vanessa and Diego. They are also considered family. In Albia, she was a leader in Girl Scouts, Albia Women's Club, and Beta Sigma Phi. In Ottumwa she belonged to Shakespeare Club and the American Association of University Women. She and Jim shared a devotion to the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, since their son John had schizophrenia. They also devoted many hours to MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, which is the largest organization that investigates Unidentified Flying Objects. Pat was also active in several organizations of writers-the Iowa Poetry Association, The National League of American Pen Women, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Ottumwa Writers, and Omega Poetry Group. Through contact with these groups, she honed her skills, entered contests and won numerous prizes. Several hundred of her poems and also some fiction and non-fiction stories were published in various periodicals, journals, and newspapers in more than 20 states. In 2008 she published a book of her poems, Reasons for Hope. To keep improving her writing, she attended workshops of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival almost every year since its beginning in 1986. She and Jim took up water skiing and later, windsurfing, and kept at it for many years. In the off-seasons she walked and did other exercises regularly to keep in shape. Some of Pat's favorite things to do were reading, writing, cooking, and traveling, especially to other countries. Always interested in learning new things, she took several postgraduate courses, read hundreds of books, and studied Spanish. She was an enthusiastic volunteer tutor in adult literacy and in English as a second language. Elderhostel was one of her favorite ways to travel. Pat and Jim traveled to over 70 countries. She also became an Ambassador, giving presentations to community organizations to promote educational travel through Elderhostel, now known as Exploritas. She regretted not living long enough to travel everywhere, read all the many books on her bookshelf, become really fluent in Spanish, and cook dinners for more friends. Funeral services will be 11 a.m., Monday, November 21, 2011 at Tharp-Winfield Funeral Home. Burial will be in Oak View Cemetery in Albia. Visitation will open at 12 p.m., Sunday, November 20, 2011, with family present from 5-8 p.m. Memorials may be directed to the Iowa Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Hospice of Monroe County or Albia Public Library.

Patricia "Pat" Pemberton King

April 23, 1932 - November 18, 2011