Obituary of Glennie King

WEST COLUMBIA, SC—Beloved mother Glennie May Beanland King, nearly 101 years of age, died April 19, 2012 in Lexington, SC. Mrs. King and her husband of seventy-one years, John E. King, who died June 28, 2008, were illustrious members of the "Greatest Generation" that brought this country out of the Depression and through World War II. Mrs. King was born July 3, 1911, in a small Texas town called Prosper, just north of Dallas. Her father was a carpenter and miller. In spite of the Depression, Glennie's parents sent not only son Kenneth but also Glennie and her sister, Thelma, to college, an unusual effort in those days, and one that bore fruit in the many advanced degrees achieved by their descendants. Glennie graduated from Trinity College, then in Waxahachie, Texas, and she taught high school math and English in Frisco and Prosper. In Frisco, she met a Latin teacher, John King. John and Glennie married in Bossier City, LA, on December 25, 1936. John undertook the supervision of Presbyterian mission schools for Native Americans in Oklahoma and Arizona. The couple welcomed two daughters, Wynetka Ann and Rebecca. After Pearl Harbor, John served as a deck officer in the Navy in the Pacific, while Glennie returned to Prosper to teach and to care for the children and her elderly parents. After the war, John returned to the faculty of Cornell University, and then became Provost at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, the President of Emporia State University in Kansas, and the University of Wyoming in Laramie. He chaired the Department of higher Education at Southern Illinois University and served as Interim Dean of the College of Education of the University of South Carolina. Glennie King earned a master's degree in library science at Emporia State, and was a rare book librarian at Southern Illinois University. Mrs. King became well known in each academic community as a gracious hostess, caring neighbor and kind friend. Many considered her a rare example of that legendary American standard, the Southern lady - unfailingly courteous to all, keenly intelligent though modest about it, and possessed of a steely private courage. (Those who really knew Glennie well would also point out that she was a formidable card player and knowledgeable sports fan, especially of the Carolina Gamecocks.) As a daughter put it while dedicating a magnolia tree in Glennie's honor at a Tennessee site, she was "In her gentle beauty, fairer even than the Yellow Rose." Glennie and John King, and the love and work they lavished upon family, community and the educational institutions they served cannot be replaced, but neither will they perish from the hearts of family and friends and the memories of grateful students. Glennie was a devoted member of the Providence Presbyterian Church of West Columbia. She also belonged to the American Association of University Women, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the service organization P.E.O. and a Columbia book club. Mrs. King was preceded in death by her husband, John E. King, Ph.D., of West Columbia; parents, C.E. and Anna Beanland of Prosper, Texas; sister, Thelma Rice Sproles of Plano, Texas and brother, E. Kenneth Beanland of Marfa, Texas; and niece Mary Anne Moses of San Antonio, Texas. Mrs. King is survived by daughters, Wynetka Ann Reynolds, Ph.D., and husband Thomas Kirschbaum, M.D. of Key West, Florida; and Rebecca Stevens, Esq., and her husband Jim Stevens, Esq., of White Oak Creek, TN; grandchildren Wynetka Ann Shutt, Esq., and partner Frances Kleckley of Columbia and Lexington; Rachel Rebecca Reynolds, Ph.D., of Philadelphia, PA; Capt. John Shutt, U.S. Army JAG, Ph.D., and wife Michelle of Ft. Drum, NY, and Rex King Reynolds and his wife Courtney of Ridgefield, CT; honorary granddaughter Sheila Faye Clause of Shandon; nephews Charles Rice (Margo) of Gunter, TX and Kenneth Beanland, Esq., (Bodil) of San Antonio and Marfa, TX; and niece Laurana Rice Mitchelmore (Charles) of Le Vesinet, France; and three beautiful great-granddaughters, Katie Shutt, Cara Reynolds-McCall and Alexa Ann Reynolds. A memorial and burial will take place privately with family members. The family would appreciate memorial donations made to the library/VBS media fund of Providence Presbyterian Church, 1112 Hummingbird Drive, West Columbia, SC 29169.