Mary Alice King’s Last Words Concerned School

Her last words were about not being late to school.

Mary Alice King who served a record 44 years for the Garden Grove Unified School District, died last week after a prolonged illness.

Before she died she woke up and asked, “What time is it?” 8 a.m., she was told. “Oh, I’ll be late for school.”

King, who was 82, began her almost 60-year education career in West Virginia as a math teacher in 1938. She joined the Garden Grove school system in 1953 as a math teacher at Garden Grove High, becoming a counselor in 1976. She moved to La Quinta High in 1982 and worked until illness forced her to retire in 1997.

King worked in the district for so many years that some of her students eventually became her colleagues.

Gary Lewis, principal at Peters Elementary School, remembers her as a traditional, strict math teacher in 1968.

“She would measure the girls’ skirts if she thought they were too short,” Lewis recalled. “As a teacher, she had really high standards. But you also knew that she cared. That’s the key to a successful teacher. She looked at the whole child and expected them to be good citizens as well as students.”

Lewis said it wasn’t until he became a teacher years later that he discovered her playful side.

Fred Johnson, a counselor at La Quinta High, remembers a sprightly King who, even into her late 70s, would high-kick on light switches with her foot and answer a “How are you doing?” with “Fit as a fiddle and ready for love.”

King was very loving and extremely dedicated to helping students, Johnson said.

“She taught calculus at Santa Ana College well into her 60s, which was pretty amazing,” Johnson said. “This job can make me tired, and I’m considerably younger than she.”

In 1993, she was honored as the recipient of the first 40-year service pin awarded to a district employee. In 1996, she became ill and took a leave of absence.

“She was never not here,” Johnson said. “She was rarely ill and never took time off. So when she did, she had a year and a half worth of sick time.”

King briefly considered returning to the classroom in 1997 but decided to retire.

“She was pretty frail,” said Jim Monohan, La Quinta’s principal. “She wanted to come back. She was quite a dedicated woman that way. She was a fine counselor and fine human being. She just really had the kids at heart and that was her life.”

King is survived by her sons, Bill and Orville; a sister, Isabel McClung; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 966-7440