Lifelong Athens resident, Samuel Bowen King, was one of the first babies to be born at Athens Limestone Hospital on July 27, 1951. He left us too soon on November 5, 2023.
Sammy wore many hats. He was local a businessman, an award-winning realtor, the owner of King’s Feed, an avid outdoorsman, an amazing dad and grandfather, among many other things. If he wasn’t cruising Athens with his trusty sidekick, Lucy, his beloved lab, you might have found him on the Elk River or hunting in the Mississippi Delta. He loved to travel all over the world, and never met a stranger. It didn’t matter if you were from Greece or Southern Louisiana or someone he’d known his whole life, he would have you rolling with a joke that was likely inappropriate.
The only time Sammy did not live in Athens was during his four years at Ole Miss in Oxford, MS. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. He loved his Rebels but became an obnoxious fan once he married into a family of hardcore Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Sammy was preceded in death by his parents, Jim Burke and Jean King. He is survived by his wife, Pat Pennington King, his daughters, Kimberly (Keith) Tidwell, and Sarah Anne (Michael) Harris, his bonus children, Meredith (Chris) Shapley, John Jackson, and Sam (Betsy) Jackson, his brother Burke (Monica) King, grandchildren, Bowen Tidwell, Jack, Catherine and Will Shapley, and Charlie and Luke Jackson and his niece, Kelsey (Todd) Neumann.
Services will be Saturday, November 11 at 2:00 at Limestone Chapel. Visitation will be from 12-1:45 preceding the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486 or First United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 978
Athens, AL 35612.
