William King

William Charles King (87) of Bountiful, Utah, passed away late Tuesday night, October 9, 2012. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in the Bountiful Utah North Canyon Stake Center located at 965 East Oakwood Drive. A viewing will precede the funeral services from 10:00 a.m. –10:45 a.m. Family and friends may also attend a viewing to be held Tuesday, October 16 from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. at Russon Brothers Mortuary located at 295 North Main Street in Bountiful. Interment will be at Lakeview Memorial Estates where he will be buried next to his wife, Helen, who preceded him in death.
Bill was born December 15, 1924 in Pendleton, Oregon to William Earl King and Vashti Bell Hoskins. Having enlisted in the army at the age of 17, Bill served in the Pacific theatre during WWII, and was part of the New Guinea and Philippine Islands campaigns as a combat weather observer. Upon his return from the war, he met and married Helen Marie Culp on June 22, 1947 in Vale, Oregon. Shortly thereafter, while attending college in McMinnville, Oregon, they were contacted by Mormon missionaries and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1949. Bill and Helen were later sealed, with the two children they had at the time, in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.
After receiving his BA degree in physics from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, Bill and Helen moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where Bill received his Masters of Science Degree in physics at Vanderbilt University on a fellowship from the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. It was in Oak Ridge, Tennessee where Bill began his professional career in nuclear physics. In 1952, Bill relocated his family to Idaho Falls, Idaho to work at the National Reactor Testing Station, where he assisted in the start-up of the Chemical Processing Plant and the Engineering Test Reactor. He later became leader of a special problem-solving group involving nuclear safety. In 1960, he moved his family to Las Vegas, Nevada where he worked at the Nevada Test Site for the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Nuclear Ram-Jet propulsion and nuclear weapons. He was safety advisor to various test group leaders and was manager of the Health and Safety Division. In 1973, the family moved to Livermore, California to be near the home laboratory where he worked as a project group leader on highly classified projects as well as group leader in the Hazards Control Department. He was a charter member of the Health Physics Society and a Certified Health Physicist by the American Board of Health Physics.
Bill formally retired in December of 1987. He and his wife, Helen, moved to Bountiful, Utah the following year. Following retirement, he worked as a Health Physics Consultant for the Department of Energy on safety evaluation of nuclear facilities. In 1991, he gave up consulting to serve a full-time mission with his wife assigned to labor at the Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center in Laie, Hawaii. He had a great love for the Polynesian people and for missionary service. In the Church, he served as a stake missionary, Priesthood quorum leader, and a Sunday school teacher. He also served for over 20 years on the High Council of three different stakes.
Bill is survived by his four children: William G. (Susan) King of Lehi, Utah; Leslie C. (Jill) King of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Kathryn K. (Lance) Call of Lehi, Utah; and Steven D. (Michelle) King of Bountiful, Utah; and a sister, Marilyn (James) Terjeson of Pendleton, Oregon. He has 17 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one grandson, Jonathan Leslie King, and also by his beloved wife, Helen.
Online quest book at www.russonmortuary.com. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the missionary efforts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.