William E. King met the Lord on February 26, 2014 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was born on December 21, 1925 to Herbert and Augusta King. Bill was born and raised in Moline, Illinois. He left Moline at the age of 18 to serve in the South Pacific during WWII. After the war, he attended Augustana Lutheran College where he served as Student Body President and Editor of the newspaper. This is also where Bill met his beautiful wife, Lois Lundstedt. After they married, Bill went on to complete his PHD in geology as a paleontologist at the University of Wisconsin. Upon graduation, he did field work for Gulf Oil and then entered the world of academia. He served as head of the geology departments at ENMU and NMSU.

He was preceded in death by his wife Lois, who passed away in 2013. He is survived by his daughter Karen Gordon (John), grandchildren Brent Gordon (Krista) and Brooke Gordon, and great granddaughters Elle Marie and Iyla Mae Gordon; brother, John King (Norma), sister in law LaVonne King, and devoted caretaker, Leo Reyes.

A private memorial service was conducted by Ernie Vineyard on March 1, 2014 in Deming, NM.