Harriet R. King

Harriet Rhymes King. November 12, 1939 – July 21, 2019

Harriet was born in Houston, Texas, on November 12, 1939, to Dudley and Rita Rhymes. An only child, her cousins Kathryn and Norita Grant were like sisters to her growing up. She played the organ at church, sang, and took dance and piano lessons. These became lasting interests, and she was still playing the organ just weeks before her death. She was in her high school drum corps, serious business in Texas. She told stories of carrying extra drumsticks concealed in her jacket during parades, because she would break them on the rims; she would also use them to whack the hands of those foolish enough to try and touch her drums. When she auditioned to be Drum Sergeant, she submitted an arrangement of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” She excelled as a student; she could have graduated after three-and-a-half years but opted to stay on the extra semester in order to graduate with her friends, including her boyfriend, Charles King, whom she had met as a fellow member of the speech team.

After high school, Harriet rebelled a little bit. Her parents wanted her to pursue a degree in nursing, and she had been accepted to a school for that program. She decided instead to pursue a degree in piano teaching at the St. Louis Institute of Music, with a minor in English literature. She enjoyed St. Louis so much that when Charles asked her to marry him upon completing their respective four-year degrees, she told him she wanted another year on her own.

After that year, she relented; they were married on August 17, 1963. She returned to Boston with Charles and worked in the admissions office of Radcliffe College. In a stunning act of support, Harriet typed Charles’ philosophy dissertation for him, manually formatting footnotes, and typing on multiple layers of carbon paper to make the requisite number of copies (this was pre-word processor and xerox machine!). They returned to Houston for two years, during which time Harriet taught piano. Then they moved to Claremont, California. Harriet joined the typing pool at Pomona College, then branched out on her own as a freelance typist, transcribing dissertations in a wide range of fields, from the humanities to the sciences. She felt that the only way she could proofread effectively was to actually read the documents she was typing, and she always viewed this as a great continuing education. During this time, she volunteered doing educational outreach for the American Cancer Society.

Getting Minx, a basset hound, and Urusla, a Newfoundland, were important first steps in starting a family. They were followed by human siblings, Heather and Justin. Harriet blended her lifelong interests with parenting. When Heather began dance classes, Harriet resumed them, taking tap, jazz, and Polynesian dancing. She spent hours teaching Heather the mother/daughter choreography so that they could participate in a recital together. Her piano playing was limited to helping Heather learn music for theatre and choir, but she and Charles regularly went to the theatre in Los Angeles. She had an active circle of friends that referred to themselves as “The Glue Group,” mixing art projects and socializing. She took up golf with Charles, and she began refinishing furniture as a hobby. When she informed the teacher of a class on reupholstering furniture that she wanted to reupholster a sofa-bed, he insisted that she bring Charles to class to help because she was tackling such a large piece of furniture. She was also an outstanding hostess, throwing lively parties for faculty from the college, especially during Charles’ years as chair of the department.

Throughout their marriage, Harriet adapted with grace to whatever direction Charles’ career took them, whether Blacksburg, VA, or Indianapolis. When they relocated to Indiana, Harriet insisted they adopt a new dog, Brandy, before they even finished unpacking boxes. Brandy was clever, and Harriet taught her an array of tricks, including climbing a ladder and walking a balance beam. Harriet took a job in the Belzer Middle School library, which she held for more than ten years. Her interests grew along with her childrens’ – she learned to score a baseball game when Justin took up little league, and she cheered him on through years of games, matches and meets. She cheerfully chose a car that would accommodate his standing bass. She put her seamstress skills to work making Heather costumes for school plays (not to mention dresses for all of the high school dances). She encouraged her children to pursue their interests, such as studying abroad in Italy and France.

When Charles became a priest attached to St. Edward the Confessor, she fully joined the life of the congregation. She catered countless events over the years, participated in St. Margaret’s Guild, served on the vestry and as recorder for the parish and diocese (which involved planning meetings for representatives from multiple parishes across the Midwest), and initiated multiple projects like a food pantry and Stephen Ministers chapter. She knit over 100 prayer shawls for mothers with infants in intensive care via the charity Threads of Love and traveled to their national convention on more than one occasion. She also made hundreds of dresses for orphans in Haiti. The last years of her life were defined by service to those she loved; she cared for Charles in the aftermath of multiple illnesses without complaint, though the care was often physically demanding and emotionally exhausting.

She was a strong, fiercely independent, and at times stubborn woman. She called herself a “jack of all trades, master of none,” but anyone who knew her knew that she had mastered an awful lot. She was a life-long learner, trying her hand at everything from wood-working to jewelry, and embarking on new undertakings well after the point in life when many would have narrowed their horizons. She was not always overtly demonstrative, but she showed her love in countless acts of service, from getting up at 4:00 am to make breakfast for a child headed to an event, to sitting up with a grandchild who was frightened by sleeping in an unfamiliar place. She was by nature reserved, but she learned to be more outgoing, especially after her husband had a stroke and needed her to speak for him. She had high standards both for herself and others and was a deep believer in learning from your mistakes and doing better next time. She had an impish sense of humor, often conveyed by a sly lift of her brow.

She is survived by her daughter Heather, married to Eric Shamp (Redlands, CA) and son Justin, married to Diane Uhl (Houston, TX). Her grandsons Alden and Mattox King, and Jackson and Austin Shamp, were her favorite athletes and musicians. Her cousin, Kathryn Grant, still lives in Texas.