Eleanor Haight King
July 26, 1914 — January 2, 2016
ELEANOR H. KING - - 1914 -2016
Eleanor Haight King died Saturday morning, Jan 2, 2016 , at her home on 3522 Pine Street, of the Avondale community in Jacksonville, Florida. She was 101. The daughter of Kathryn Gray Haight and Winfield Haight she was born July 26, 1914 in Washington, D.C.. The family moved to the Springfield community of Jacksonville, Florida in 1921, where she attended the public schools and graduated from Andrew Jackson High School. She then attended the Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee (now FSU) where she was a student teacher of Tap Dance and a lettered diver on the Swimming Team. She was a sister of the Phi Mu social sorority. As an eleven -year old student she had begun dancing on stage for The Gary Ford Review and then professionally in Jacksonville, Miami and Atlanta . As a child dancer she had been the opening stage show act for the new Florida Theater in 1927. Always the twinkle toes, she would be still dancing the highland fling on her seventy- fifth birthday, a soft shoe routine on her ninety-fifth and a slow waltz on her hundredth.
In 1933 she married Dr. Raymond H. King in Jacksonville and they began their family there and then resided in Hastings, Florida and Rochester, N.Y. before returning to Jacksonville . In 1962 they began residing part time in the Swiss Pine Lake Community of Spruce Pine N.C. Following the death of Dr. King in 1987 she returned to college and ,surviving Algebra, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Florida. She was 80
Eleanor King was an enduring and enthusiastic champion of the musical arts especially when it included children. She was a President of the Jacksonville Childrens’ Museum (now MOSH), a President of the Fishweir School PTA, a President of the Friday Musical, and the fonder of the Junior Symphony there in 1947. She was a charter member of the Delius society of Florida, was on the first Board of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 1959, and a 25 -year Trustee of the Mary E. L’Engle orchestral fund benefitting school children. Eleanor King was a President of the Duval County Medical Society Auxiliary, a Secretary of the Civic Music Association, on the organizing committee for the Cultural Council of Jacksonville and was a Chairman of the Education Committee of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild whereby funding has become available for tuitions in the JSO Youth Orchestra. The fund now bears her name, The Eleanor H. King Tuition Fund.
In her free time she volunteered at St Lukes, and Shands Hospitals, the Cummer Gallery, the Symphony Guild’s Children’s Instrument Zoo, ;was a Sunday School teacher and elementary school tutor - all in Jacksonville and volunteer for the Blue Ridge Medical Center, the Learn to Read Program for adults; theToe River Arts Council, and the Penland School of Arts and Crafts - all in Spruce Pine.
She is survived by two children, Raymond H. King, Jr of Ocala, Florida, and Kathryn King Conoly, of Stone Mt. Georgia ; ten grandchildren, twenty-two great grandchildren; eight great-great grandchildren. and sister in-law Carolyn V. King of Wallingford, Con.;
Her memorial service will be conducted by Pastor Steve Goyer at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday ,Jan 15, at 2 PM with a reception on site. Another memorial will be conducted by Pastor Bill Sweetser at the First Presbyterian Church of Spruce Pine to be announced for May , 2016.
Arrangements by Naugle Funeral Home, Inc. of Jacksonville.
Instead of flowers it is requested that a donation be considered to benefit young musicians through The Eleanor H. King Tuition Fund administered by the Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Eleanor Haight King died Saturday morning, Jan 2, 2016 , at her home on 3522 Pine Street, of the Avondale community in Jacksonville, Florida. She was 101. The daughter of Kathryn Gray Haight and Winfield Haight she was born July 26, 1914 in Washington, D.C.. The family moved to the Springfield community of Jacksonville, Florida in 1921, where she attended the public schools and graduated from Andrew Jackson High School. She then attended the Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee (now FSU) where she was a student teacher of Tap Dance and a lettered diver on the Swimming Team. She was a sister of the Phi Mu social sorority. As an eleven -year old student she had begun dancing on stage for The Gary Ford Review and then professionally in Jacksonville, Miami and Atlanta . As a child dancer she had been the opening stage show act for the new Florida Theater in 1927. Always the twinkle toes, she would be still dancing the highland fling on her seventy- fifth birthday, a soft shoe routine on her ninety-fifth and a slow waltz on her hundredth.
In 1933 she married Dr. Raymond H. King in Jacksonville and they began their family there and then resided in Hastings, Florida and Rochester, N.Y. before returning to Jacksonville . In 1962 they began residing part time in the Swiss Pine Lake Community of Spruce Pine N.C. Following the death of Dr. King in 1987 she returned to college and ,surviving Algebra, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Florida. She was 80
Eleanor King was an enduring and enthusiastic champion of the musical arts especially when it included children. She was a President of the Jacksonville Childrens’ Museum (now MOSH), a President of the Fishweir School PTA, a President of the Friday Musical, and the fonder of the Junior Symphony there in 1947. She was a charter member of the Delius society of Florida, was on the first Board of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 1959, and a 25 -year Trustee of the Mary E. L’Engle orchestral fund benefitting school children. Eleanor King was a President of the Duval County Medical Society Auxiliary, a Secretary of the Civic Music Association, on the organizing committee for the Cultural Council of Jacksonville and was a Chairman of the Education Committee of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild whereby funding has become available for tuitions in the JSO Youth Orchestra. The fund now bears her name, The Eleanor H. King Tuition Fund.
In her free time she volunteered at St Lukes, and Shands Hospitals, the Cummer Gallery, the Symphony Guild’s Children’s Instrument Zoo, ;was a Sunday School teacher and elementary school tutor - all in Jacksonville and volunteer for the Blue Ridge Medical Center, the Learn to Read Program for adults; theToe River Arts Council, and the Penland School of Arts and Crafts - all in Spruce Pine.
She is survived by two children, Raymond H. King, Jr of Ocala, Florida, and Kathryn King Conoly, of Stone Mt. Georgia ; ten grandchildren, twenty-two great grandchildren; eight great-great grandchildren. and sister in-law Carolyn V. King of Wallingford, Con.;
Her memorial service will be conducted by Pastor Steve Goyer at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday ,Jan 15, at 2 PM with a reception on site. Another memorial will be conducted by Pastor Bill Sweetser at the First Presbyterian Church of Spruce Pine to be announced for May , 2016.
Arrangements by Naugle Funeral Home, Inc. of Jacksonville.
Instead of flowers it is requested that a donation be considered to benefit young musicians through The Eleanor H. King Tuition Fund administered by the Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Eleanor Haight King, please visit our flower store.