Elizabeth J. King

Elizabeth Jeanette (Deiter) King, 94, our mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, slipped away peacefully in her sleep in the quiet first hour of March 9, 2024. For her, it was a wish fulfilled. 

Born at home on a farm in Vera, Kansas on September 15, 1929, the fifth of eight children of George Thomas Deiter and Golda Davis Deiter, Elizabeth ended her earthly journey surrounded by her family. We trust she was met with open arms by loved ones who left before her.

Elizabeth spent her first eleven years on the farm and attended school through the seventh grade in a one-room school house. After her family moved to a smaller farm near Paxico, Kansas, Betty (as she was known then) attended Sacred Heart School in eighth grade, where the nuns taught her to play the piano. Lessons were paid for with canned food from her parents’ harvest. After graduation in 1947 from Paxico Rural High School, she completed two years of study at The Clark School of Business in Topeka, Kansas. She then took a position in the offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Railroad.

 On June 17, 1950, Elizabeth married Robert West King, Jr. at The Church of the Assumption in Topeka, Kansas. Four of their children – Steven, Kathryn, Ann, and Kevin – were born and raised in Topeka until January of 1956 when Bob's military assignment in the U.S. Navy moved the family to Vallejo, California. As military life often requires, the family moved again to San Diego, California, where Robert III and Michael were born. In 1959, Liz moved her family back to Paxico, Kansas, where Linda was born in 1960. The family resided there until February, 1964, when Bob was transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Reserve base in Green Bay, Wisconsin. There they welcomed their eighth child, Scott, in 1965. Liz would divorce a decade and a half later.

 Throughout the years, Liz devoted her time and energy to raising her family, and despite the many challenges she faced, she instilled a loving and nurturing character in her children. As the older kids grew, they became capable assistants in caring for the younger ones. When Liz began a three-year stint as an Avon Cosmetics representative, the girls enjoyed helping their mother, digging through boxes of orders and sorting products for delivery. The boys would start their assigned chores, which many times devolved into wrestling on the living room floor, and Liz would have to break it up and get them back on task.

 Liz would go on to work as an administrative assistant for the Green Bay Board of Education, where she retired after nearly twenty-five years of service. After retirement, she worked part-time at the Lullabye Shop in Green Bay.

 Liz enjoyed traveling the world with family and friends and on group tours, visiting Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii, China, Europe, Canada, Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, and many states in America. 

 An avid reader, Liz wore out her library card at the Brown County Southwest Branch and shared her enthusiasm for books with her friends at the Bellevue Book Club. She also volunteered at the Bellevue Senior Center and served on the Senior Advisory Board. Liz had lots of fun cross-country skiing and playing very amateur golf. She pursued her interest in lifelong learning through the Learning In Retirement program at UWGB, which included drawing classes that she took in her late 70s.

 Liz delighted in watching her grandchildren grow, making a special effort to take them shopping on their birthdays and never missing concerts and sporting events in the area. She was the founder of our annual Family Picnic, a gathering that morphed from an afternoon in the late 1980s to a three-day event at Sand Bay in Door County three decades later.

 Liz’s legacy is the family that she created and nurtured throughout her life. As she continues her journey in spirit, Liz leaves behind her much-beloved family and friends but takes with her the energy and vibration of love and the memories of a wonderful life together.

 Honoring her time on this earth are Liz's eight children – Steven (Patricia) King, Kathryn King (Kress) Rossmann, Ann e. King, Kevin (Susan) King, Robert (Jennifer) King III, Michael (Sheryl) King, Linda King Thieme, and Scott (Susanne) King; her fifteen grandchildren – Ryan King (Paige Berwald), Brandon (Krystin) King, Greta (Brady) Terrill, Madeline Larson, Carlye King (Adam Harkness), Margo King (Shane Leadholm), Jacki King (Wayne Moss), Christina King (Christopher Sauter), Caroline King (Daniel Corona), Jennifer King (Tyler Clegg), Haley King, Jaime King, Elliot Thieme (Shannon Mead), Jillian Miller, and Bailey King (Rae Herdt); and her ten great-grandchildren, Christian, Joy, Justice, Andrew, Jackson and Marietta Terrill, Hattie and William King, Scarlett Thieme, and Sebastian Sauter. Her sisters, Louise Glotzbach and Martina Hiegert, and sister-in-law, Mary Deiter, along with many nieces and nephews, join in loving remembrance of Liz.

 Liz reunites in Heaven with those who have gone before her – her parents, her grandson Daniel James King, her sister Alice Deiter, her brothers Jack, Donald, Norman and Lloyd Deiter, sisters-in-law Dorothy, Marian, and Vela Deiter, and brothers-in-law Bill Glotzbach and Paul Hiegert.

 The family would like to thank the staff of Unity Hospice for their excellence in providing comfort and care. We cannot express our gratitude enough for the daily dedication and care given to Liz over the last four years by the staff of Oak Park Place of Green Bay.  

A visitation will be held on Monday, March 18, at Malcore Funeral Home, 701 N Baird St., Green Bay, from 4 PM until the time of the memorial service at 6:30 PM.  To live stream the service please click on the below link just prior to 6:30 PM, Monday, March 18, 2024.

 Interment will be held at a private family ceremony in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Paxico Kansas, at a later date.

 A memorial fund has been established in Liz’s name.