Funeral service for Harrison King will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 20, 2016 in Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church with Rev. Ken Baden officiating.

Burial will follow in Pecan Cemetery under direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

The family will greet friends from 6-8 pm Friday at the funeral home but friends may view from 8 am – 9 pm Thursday and Friday.

Harrison King, 89, of Lawton, Oklahoma, went home to be with his beloved wife of 65 years, Mildred, on August 15, 2016.

Harrison was born in Medicine Park May 4, 1927, to Glen King and Pearl Elsie Peters King, both of pioneering families that homesteaded southwest of Lawton in 1901 and 1902. Harrison was raised on a dairy farm as the youngest of 8 children, of which 6 survived to adulthood. In his later years of life, Harrison would proudly state that a King had resided on the same road for over a hundred years.

Growing up on the dairy, Harrison and his siblings worked hard and assisted with the family farm daily transporting milk to the Fairmont creamery near downtown Lawton. This was true except when walking, or occasionally riding a horse, to Deyo schoolhouse until he reached high school age when he began attending Cache High School. Harrison drove a school bus route for Cache school during his junior and senior years of high school because of the wartime manpower shortage. Harrison took pride in all of his work and never complained about responsibilities, either large or small. He was a good steward of all the blessings that God bestowed upon him.

Harrison had many great achievements in his lifetime, but to him there was none more so than marrying Mildred Ola Stair of Faxon, Oklahoma. After being introduced by a mutual friend that worked on his family's dairy, Harrison became an avid basketball fan and attended every game that the Faxon girls played in the 1946-47 season where his sweet Mildred would be playing.

Harrison and Mildred entered wedded bliss on April 10, 1948, after an intimate ceremony at the Centenary United Methodist church in Lawton, Oklahoma. In the years to follow, they lovingly greeted two sons and a daughter to their family dairy farm, where they would instill into their children the lifelong values of hard work and determination. They loved all children and opened their home to foster children, nieces and nephews, as well as their children's friends for whom they served as class parents. They never missed a school event in which any of their children were participating. Harrison and Mildred were members and regular attendees at Wesley Chapel UMC where they took their children to church during their youth. Harrison was ten when he was baptized along with his siblings after a revival at Wesley Chapel. At the time of his death he was the oldest living member of Wesley Chapel UMC.

Harrison loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and faithfully served in many positions within the church. At Wesley Chapel he was on the administrative board, was a trustee, served on the finance committee, and along with Mildred was a devoted member of the visitation committee often visiting those who were in need of support and encouragement. A former pastor noted that Mildred and Harrison were always willing to serve and never turned down any opportunities to do so.

Harrison graciously served in many leadership roles such as being a board member of Co-op Services, Inc., Cache school board, Pecan Cemetery board member and president, member of the Oklahoma Beef Council, Comanche County Excise Board, Farmers' Home Administration board member, founding board member of the Tri-County Cotton Gin of Chattanooga, and board member on the Oklahoma Division of Associated Milk Producers, Inc., a dairy farmers' cooperative. These roles allowed them to travel abroad to Europe on a couple of occasions. In recent years, he was the subject of a write up in The Cotton Electric Current recalling when "the electric" was brought to rural farm families changing their lives forever for the better. Harrison recounted the story that his father had electric milking equipment ready to go when the power was turned on.

Harrison and Mildred often traveled to visit their grandchildren in Texas, and took many vacations with their grandchildren, daughter and son-in-law. They made several trips across the United States making many unforgettable memories along the way. In the years after Mildred's passing, Harrison was able take one final trip visiting several friends across the United States while accompanied by his daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and his great-grandson, Harrison. Though much shorter trips, Harrison recently enjoyed sharing the sights of Comanche County on occasion and regaling his family with stories of his youth and past memories.

Harrison was preceded in death by his loving wife, Mildred; parents Glen King and Pearl Elsie Peters King; brother W.H. (William Henry) King; sisters Nellie Mae Beasley and special brother-in-law, Loyd; Frances Elizabeth Barker; Edith Pearl Whitehead; Garnet Isabel Maggard; Myrtle Lucille King; and Iva Harriet King.

He is survived by son Joe and wife Jane of Lawton, OK; daughter Nancy Henard and husband Larry of Wellington, TX; son David and wife Valree of Lawton, OK; and numerous grandchildren including Amy Farmer and husband Pat of Amarillo, TX; Chelsey Simpson and husband Jeff of Brooklyn, NY; Jill Varner and husband Nick of Schwedelbach, Germany; Hailey King of Portland, OR; Arielle King of Arlington, TX; Tessa Henard of Amarillo, TX; Jonathan King of Austin, TX; Kimberly King of Lawton, OK; and one great-grandson, Harrison Varner of Schwedelbach, Germany.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Pecan Cemetery Association, 10108 SW Woodlawn Road, Lawton OK 73505 or to the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 6025, Lawton OK 73506.