C. Howard “Chubby” King ’38 died peacefully on May 16 at Countryside Manor in Stokesdale, N.C. King was born April 16, 1917, to Nancy Howard and Walter Winburne King.
He graduated from Greensboro Senior High in 1934 and received the McDaniel Lewis Athletic Trophy and the coveted PTA Best All-Around Student Trophy. At Davidson, he led a popular dance band, The Royal Kings, which also played summer gigs at Wrightsville Beach and the Grand Strand of South Carolina.
After college he held jobs in the business arena, but with the advent of World War II, and upon the completion of officer training at Harvard, Lt. King was assigned to the newly formed Allied Air Transport Command, Southwest Pacific Troop Carrier’s 54th Wing, in the spring of ’42. King spent three years in New Guinea in operations support and then followed his wing through the liberation of the Philippines.
Upon returning home he eventually enrolled at UNC Greensboro to qualify as a teacher and administrator in public education. He was a guidance counselor, taught civics, coached football, and co-assistant principal at Aycock and Mendenhall Middle Schools. In ’74, King returned to Aycock as principal. He had earned a measure of fame for his Aycock football team, which played five years undefeated, and the accolade in an Aycock annual dedicated to him, “Mr. King is the most loved and cherished principal we could ever want,” was a fitting epitaph for a career well chosen.
In retirement, he loved to reminisce with friends, read, play golf, and enjoy other sports via TV. A daily companion was the Padgett’s lovable toy poodle, Sammie, who claimed him as her personal property. A highlight of his retirement was an invitation from nephew, Curtis Smith, to accompany him around the world.
King belonged to Civitan and the Democratic Party. He remained in touch with First Christian Church-Disciples of Christ, which his parents helped to found.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his older brother, Walter W. King, Jr. (Elizabeth “Bibbie” Yates King); his younger brother, Paul Noble King; and his double first cousins, Mary Elizabeth King Brown and her brother, John Washington King, Sr., killed in World War II. He is survived by his sister, Nancy Dixon King Smith, P.O. Box 1694, Davidson, NC 28036-1694; and his sister-in-law, Dacia Lewis King.
A bachelor, King is also survived by cherished nephews, W. Winburne King III, Charles Yates King, C. Shaw Smith, Jr., Curtis Howard Smith ’72, Graham Fennel Smith ’77, and nieces, Elizabeth “Libby” King Prickette, Nancy Smith Gardner, and Mary Mignonette “Mary Mig” McEntire. Also surviving are his goddaughter, Susie Apple Padgett, and husband, Gary Padgett, whose home he shared in his last years and whose love and devotion sustained him, and finally his cherished and lifelong friend, Carl Ivan Carlson, Jr. ’37.