Marden Robert King
1943 ~ 2008
Marden Robert King died Sunday evening, Jan. 20, 2008, surrounded by his family.He was born July 21, 1943, at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, the son of Marden Franklin King and Ellen Sylvia Taylor King. Their family home was on South Temple right by the present Larkin Mortuary. They sold the property the next year and moved to Burbank, California, where two more children were born to them. Then the father became ill, and when Robby was eight, his father was too ill to baptize him, so a friend named Willis Sherwood did the baptism, and his father confirmed him. Only a few months later his father died. He grew up in Burbank, attended Burbank schools and Burbank Ward.
At 18, he went to BYU, and while he was there, his mother died. In 1964, he went on a two-year Church mission to England. After his mission he joined the Air Force, serving 18 months in the Philippines, and he was ordained a Seventy in the Melchizedek Priesthood, serving in several missionary capacities for many years. In January 1969 he attended Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, where he met Sharon May Cheney and they were married June 6, 1969. They had no children, then May died in April 1976. In July 1980 he met Zona Marie Miller. On the day of their first date he was ordained a High Priest by his father-in-law, Elmo Cheney. Robby and Zona Marie were married February 28, 1981 in the Salt Lake Temple. They were blessed with five beautiful children: Arthur, Marilyn, Adam, Aaron, and Alma. They moved from Idaho to Salt Lake in 1989, where Robby umpired Little League baseball, then ran Vacuum World in West Jordan for the next 10 years, then when he became ill the shop had to be closed.
Robby served in the Bishopric of the Redwood Ward in 1993 under Bishop Arnold Ashby until the ward was dissolved and combined with Jordan View Ward. He also loved serving as a veil worker and as security in the Idaho Falls Temple. He loved genealogy, and accomplished some great breakthroughs, like finding the name of one great-great-grandmother after 40 years of trying. He was a stickler for verification of records, collecting actual certificates for everything he could. He was also active politically, serving as a delegate to the Utah Republican conventions.
Robby is survived by his wife, Zona Marie, his children, Arthur King, Marilyn (Jeremy) Cutler, Adam King, Aaron King, and Alma King; his brother Wayne (Christine) King of Burbank, California, and his sister Karen King of Cerritos, California.
Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, January 26, 2008, at Jordan View Ward, 1165 W. 2320 S. in West Valley City. Friends may call one hour prior to services and Friday at the church 6-8 p.m. Interment will be at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.