William E. King, 86, of Valley Cottage, NY, died peacefully on February 5th at home after a long illness. Bill was born in Herkimer, NY on Easter Sunday in March 1929, the oldest of the six children of William T. and Evelyn Davis King. He could tell countless tales about growing up in a small town during the tough times of the Depression. After graduating from Herkimer High School in 1947, where he was a 3-letter athlete, he worked as a car mechanic for the Cadillac Oldsmobile dealer and was active in the NY National Guard both as a weekend warrior and a fulltime mechanic before he started college at SUNY Oswego in 1955. Upon graduation he took a position teaching industrial arts and technical drawing in the Tarrytown, NY school system, a job he loved, where he stayed for the next 30 years. In 1969-70 he and his family spent a year in Bolton, England, where he was a Fullbright Exchange teacher.
He was an active radio control modeller for many years, and was a founding member of the Rockland County Radio Control Club, competed in many meets, and appeared on the cover of Model Airplane News with one of his plane in 1967. In the early sixties he became involved with Cole Palen’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a flying museum of antique airplanes. He got his mechanic’s license and his pilot’s license, and was active there for 50 years until 2015 on the ground and in the air, flying his own 1944 Tiger Moth among other vintage planes. He also owned a series of slightly more modern airplanes, which he and his wife enjoyed flying over the Hudson River Valley and in Vermont.
In 1959 he married Jane Wilson and had three children. He is survived by his wife, his son David T. King and wife Sheila of Red Hook, NY, son Andrew D. King and his companion of many years, Julie Appleby, of Vienna, Virginia. His daughter, Alice O. King predeceased him. His sons both are active flyers in the antique airplane field; his daughter raced motorcycles. They did not fall far from the tree.
His brothers Richard and Theodore and a sister, Esther, predeceased him. He is survived by his sisters, Delores Swiger of Herkimer, NY and Mary Hart of Nashville, Tennessee, many in-laws and three generations of nieces and nephews. And many, many wonderful friends.
Calling hours will be Tuesday, February 9, from 4 to 7pm at the Hannemann Funeral Home, Inc. in Nyack, NY. There will be a memorial service at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome at a later date. In lieu of flowers. donations may be made to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck NY or Hospice of Rockland will be welcome.