Profile written by Wayne King.

Diane and I are both from the SW Jefferson County community of Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP), Kentucky where we met while attending PRP High School. While we did not date in high school we were good friends my senior year in an honor study hall (no teacher). After graduation we started dating off and on (mostly on) the next three years and married on Aug. 2, 1968, just before my senior year in college. We will celebrate our 57th wedding anniversary in August 2 of 2025. We currently reside in Shelbyville, Shelby Co., KY. Lord willing, we will die there as our burial sites are in Grove Hill Cemetery (Shelbyville).

Our two children have both been successful in the professions they have chosen for their life. Our son, Brian (53), worked as a "computer geek" for many years but grew tired of "the machine" and decided to pursue his other interest, that of truck farming. His grandfather (Mitchell R. King) had grown up on a subsistence hillside farm in Parksville, Boyle Co., KY and his ancestors had all been subsistence farmers. Also, my wife's ancestors had all been farmers. Actually, my son's maternal GF (Sid Gagel) and maternal G-GF (Joe Gagel) had both been Jefferson County truck farmers.

By the age of 50 , Brian and his wife (Heather) had paid off their 25 acre farm. Also, Brian had built their home on the farm (very talented as a builder) as well as needed barns, sheds, greenhouses, etc. They are debt free, living just inside Jefferson County (KY) near the county boundary lines with Bullitt and Spencer Counties. He and Heather do not have any children.

Our daughter, Carrie, is a nurse. She works in nursing homes on weekends and due to her expertise (and the nursing shortage) she has had no trouble finding good paying jobs. It really nice to have a medical professional in the family. Both of our children seem to enjoy their chosen professions.

All four of our grandchildren (Carrie's children) are doing quite well in their academics. The oldest, Reagan (24) graduated (college prep) from Shelby Co. HS with a 3.7+ GPA. Single, she was in college part-time studying to be a nurse like her mother while working a full time job. However, working as a nurse's assistant in a nursing home (residents described her as a "Sweetheart") she eventually realized that nursing was not exactly what she really wanted to do with her life.

Reagan, had taken her younger sister, Ella, to Williamsburg, KY make a school visit to the University of the Cumberlands. Ella really liked the Christian atmosphere and decided to attend there turning down several scholarship offers from other schools. She had already taken successfully a couple of summer courses from Murray State University. Reagan liked the university as well, so well that she decided to change her major from Nursing to Psychology and transfer to the school.

Reagan is very artistic, like her sister, mother, grandmother and her G-GM. Cumberland was offering a new program in the Psychology

Department. She is now pursuing this new psychology degree at the University of the Cumberlands. She wants to use her artistic ability to help troubled children. She is classified as a junior.

Ella graduated from Shelby Co. HS (6th of 200+ students) taking college credit courses her last two years. The UK community college is located next to the high school and qualified SCHS students are allowed to take courses there for both high school and college credit. Ella was one of only two students to graduate from SCHS in 2024 with both a High School Diploma AND an Associate of Arts Degree (AA). She entered the University of the Cumberlands as a junior and is now classified as a senior.

Despite her tough academic schedule, Ella was still involved in several high school activities (choir, plays, Student Council, etc), community activities (court, county fair, Bible School, etc) while holding down a part-time job at the local local Walgreens Drug Store. She still managed a 4.3+ GPA . She entered college on an academic scholarship, turning down several scholarships from other schools. Ella currently wants to be a Christian family lawyer.

The youngest two, Carter (15) and Piper (14), are currently being home schooled. They too, are doing quite well academically and are well above the average for their counterparts in the public schools.

As you can see, my wife and I have been very blessed to have such wonderful children and grand-children. Needless to say, we are very proud of all of them.

Diane and I are both retired educators. Diane was a church preschool director for 17 years and prior to that was a daycare director. Though the years have been busy ones for her, she has always managed to find the time to be a wonderful Christian director, wife, mother and grandmother. The nicknames that our grandchildren have given us are "Mo Mo" and "Po Po", now shortened to "Mo" and "Po". Diane is now retired and spends most of her free time with our children, grandchildren and myself.

Raised in Jefferson Co., KY (Garvin Place in Louisville, Wilshire Ave. in Riverside Gardens & Ralph Avenue in Louisville and Greenwood Rd in PRP), I was truly blessed to have wonderful, Godly parents (Mitchell R. King and Dorothy Boyles King). They were good Christian people, strict, yet loving. They "took" my siblings and myself to church "every time the doors were open".

Both of my parents were active in church activities with my dad being a deacon as well as a Sunday School Superintendent and teacher at various times. During my teenage years my Mom and I sang in the church choir while my sister, Cheryl, played the church piano. Her piano teacher and good older friend, Judy Hudson, played the church organ. Judy graduated from Kentucky Southern College (the same school that I graduated from several years later) and became a music teacher in the Jefferson Co. Public School System.

Schooling was a point of emphasis while growing up but we were never pressured. We were expected to attend school every day unless "deathly ill", to behave ourselves in the classroom ("Dad would say the teacher takes my place".) and to do as well as we could in our studies. If we stayed home sick we had to stay in bed all day. Needless to say, we seldom missed school.

Cane Run Elementary was my first school. At that time (1953-57) it stressed good behavior and academics. I attended school there for half of the first grade and all of grades 2-4 in the older building (1923, now raised). I also attended (1953) the brand new Alice Waller Ele. School (now also razed) the 2nd half of 1st grade that year. I finished my elementary education at Greenwood Elementary (brand new building 1957, grades 5-6) and Pleasure Ridge Park HS (1959-65, grades 7-12). During my formative years I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend good schools staffed with caring teachers who had high expectations in both academics and behavior.

My wife, Diane, attended St. Helen Catholic School (grades 1-5) in Shively (KY), St. Paul Catholic School (grades (6-8) and then Pleasure Ridge Park High School (9-12).

I was well prepared for college by by my teachers at PRP HS, taking advanced and superior courses managing a 3.2+ GPA while playing basketball and baseball. After HS graduation (1965) I attended Lees Junior College in Jackson, KY for one year and then transferred to Kentucky Southern College (KSC), in Louisville, KY. I graduated from KSC with a 3.2+ GPA in 1969 receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree as well as Kentucky Teacher Certification (social studies, psychology, health and PE). I wanted to start teaching and coaching basketball immediately so I turned down an opportunity to attend graduate school on a graduate assistant ship.

At both schools (Lees and KY Southern) I was fortunate to be a scholarship member of the basketball team. Once again I was truly blessed, having my college education paid for while being provided the opportunity to play a game that I truly loved at that time and would later coach. I was also the college sports editor (KSC) my last two years at KSC as well as President of the Letterman's Club.

The junior high school, high school and college basketball coaches that I had for ten years (1959-69) all had a profound effect on my life. They were Gary Young (PRP JHS), Bill Waddell (PRP HS), Gary Schaffer (PRP HS), Edgar Raleigh (Lees JC) and Gippy "Gip" Graham (KSC). I will always be thankful to each of them. Also, I am thankful for the wonderful teammates I had during those years, years that passed by all too quickly. Many of those teammates are now deceased.

Gary Young, 4 years older that myself, played basketball and baseball at PRP HS while I was in elementary school (grades 5-6) and junior high school (grades 7-8). He was the first "older player" at PRP (baseball and basketball) that I truly admired. Gary was my 7th and 8th grade coach in Optimist Leagues in both baseball and basketball. I had the pleasure of playing on a baseball team with him my soph year at KSC. Gary was a senior first baseman/pitcher while I played center field.

Coach Bill Waddell (HS freshman coach) gave me some much needed basketball encouragement and the opportunity to be "on the team" during my first year (9th grade) in high school. I had failed to make PRP's 7th and 8th grade teams and I must say, deservedly so. The truth is that I had yet to develop physically, was undersized and very experienced.

Coach Gary Schaffer (PRP JV, later PRP Varsity) also gave me much needed encouragement and showed unwavering faith in me during the three years (grades 10-12) that I played for him at PRP. I went from probably being the worse player (literally) on the freshman team to leading the varsity team in scoring and rebounding my senior year. At the end of my senior basketball season I was named All District and the team's MVP, accepting a basketball scholarship to Lees Junior College in Jackson, KY. I had also received the Most Improved Player Award my junior year. Again, Coach Schaffer played a great part in my development both as an athlete and a person.

Coach Edgar Raleigh offered me a basketball scholarship at Lees Junior College in Jackson, KY, thus the chance to play my college basketball in state, something for which I will always be grateful. He is now in his early 90s and we remain good friends.

KSC Coach Gippy Graham was like a second father to me (strict, yet caring) during my three years at Ky Southern College (KSC). After coaching he became a KY state legislator and later the Mayor of Frankfort (KY), his hometown. He is now 96! We also remain good friends and meet several times a year for lunch in Frankfort, KY where he now lives.

As mentioned earlier, I am also thankful for the outstanding teammates that I had during my high school and college years. Unfortunately, I have lost contact with many of them and several of them have passed away. At 78 years of age I still have the opportunity to meet with my former college coach and some of my teammates several times a year.

At KSC I obtained teaching certification in Social Studies, Health & Physical Education and Psychology. Most of my graduate study was done at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY, the school from which I earned my Masters Degree (MS), my Rank I and administration certification. I also attended graduate classes at Western Kentucky University and Georgetown College, obtaining certification in special education, counseling and as a Director of Pupil Personnel (DPP). I have a total of 99 graduate hours (too many) with a 3.9+ GPA.

Upon retiring I returned to do my old Director of Pupil Personnel (DPP) job twice at Anderson County and once in the Woodford Co. School System. I also served as a substitute teacher in the Alternative School and at ACHS. During my 40 years in public education I had the opportunity to work with many wonderful fellow educators and students.

My career in education started at Butler High School in Louisville, KY as a special education (EMH) teacher, a great learning experience. I was also an assistant basketball coach for three years at Butler working with head coach, Lonnie Willoughby. During that three year period we had outstanding teams winning more than 20 games each year. Lonnie. a very caring person, was not only an excellent basketball coaching mentor but also a good friend.

At age 25, I was offered the opportunity to become an assistant basketball coach in college, something I thought I always wanted to be. Diane and I moved to Charleston, SC where I coached the freshman team and assisted with the varsity at Charleston Southern University. It took only one year to realize that being an assistant in college was not all that it was cracked up to be. Being on the road much of the time (scouting and recruiting) while also coaching the freshman/JV team, being in charge of recruiting and assisting with the varsity kept me quite busy and away from my wife. Fortunately, I was not required to teach classes.

My experience at Charleston Southern was definitely beneficial in several ways. But most of all, it helped me realize that I was an incurable homebody and that Diane and I both missed our home state of Kentucky.

One year later, we returned to Kentucky where I accepted the head coaching position for boys basketball at Anderson Co. High School (ACHS) in Lawrenceburg. There I taught both Health and Physical Education. My second year there I was also the assistant principal for the school.

My wife, Diane, got saved (accepted Jesus as her Savior) at age 26. She had always been a good person. At the same time I rededicated by life to Jesus and we joined the First Baptist Church of Lawenceburg. Rev. Bob Jones was our Pastor. He and his wife were both outstanding people. I had the pleasure of having his children (Edna and Bobby) in school. Diane and I are now members of the Shelbyville First Baptist Church.

In my first year at ACHS we had only a 5'8 part time starter who had averaged six points per game returning from the previous year. However, we had a good JV team ready to compliment him. To everyone's surprise (including my own) we won both the district and regional basketball tournaments that first year and represented the 8th Region in the 1974 Kentucky State Basketball Tournament.

The next year, at age 27, I became an assistant principal at ACHS while still coaching a basketball team that ranked in the top 15. Being an assistant principal, teaching four classes, attending graduate school and coaching basketball (24-7) made for a very busy year. At age 28, I gave up my head coaching position when I was offered the position of head principal at Anderson Co. High School.

After four years as the head high school (ACHS) principal the middle school (AMS) head position came open. I requested the move to the open principal's position at Anderson Middle, a position that I would hold for the next 12 years.

After 12 years at AMS I then moved to the Board of Education as Director of Pupil Personnel (DPP), a position I would hold for 14 years. I worked for and with Ronald "Sonny" Fentress, one of the all-time great school superintendents in the state of Kentucky and I might add, a good friend.

During my DPP time I started coaching again, helping a former ACHS athlete (Tony Kays), coaching the girls basketball program at both the middle school ("fall ball") and the high school (FR, later JV) as well as assisting with our outstanding varsity teams.

I definitely enjoyed my years as an assistant girl's coach. That was probably because we had great talent, winning 20 or more games eight years in a row and participating in the State Tournament several times. During that time I had no ambition, whatsoever, of becoming a head varsity coach at ACHS or some other school.

After retiring in 2005 at age 58, I worked part-time in the Anderson School System as a substitute teacher (primarily at the HS and the alternative school) and even filled in as DPP (my old job) for Anderson County twice, once for a full year and once for a spring. The same position (DPP) was also offered (and accepted) to me for one year in the Woodford Co. School System in Versailles, Kentucky.

Though "officially" retired I continued to coach basketball, helping ACHS's highly successful head coach, Tony Kays, with the girls HS basketball team. As mentioned earlier, we were blessed to win 20+ games (34-2 one year, final 4) eight years in a row. After eight 20 win seasons our string was broken by a team that won "only" 19 games. When our head coach (Tony Kays) gave up coaching basketball (retired) in 2014, I did likewise.

There you have it, all you "never wanted to know" about my life, a life that has truly been blessed in so many ways.

Diane (my # 1 supporter) and I are now both 78 years of age and obviously retired. Although blessed with reasonably good health, we realize that our time on this earth is fast running out. Someday soon our bodies will be placed in the ground ("Asleep in Jesus") but our souls will be moving on to be with Jesus, our Christian relatives and friends. My question to you is this: Where will you be spending eternity?

One of our hobbies is the history/genealogy of our families. Consequently, most of the memorials we have created and/or maintain on Find-a-Grave are family. We are always glad to get corrections and/or additional information in regard to the members of our family who came before us.