Hunter Lewis King

Hunter Lewis King passed away peacefully at his home, Rosehill Farm, in Bedford, Virginia, on Jan. 1, 2025. He was 94.

Hunter was born on May 20, 1930, in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, as one of 14 children to Harry and Mildred King. Raised to be an all-around horseman by his father, Hunter grew up riding and working with horses, shoeing his first pony at 6 years old. At 14, he qualified a horse for the Maryland Hunt Cup – though he ultimately was forced to scratch from the race due to his young age.

He graduated from Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania and joined the army during the Korean War. Afterwards, he rented and then bought a small horse farm in East Goshen, Pennsylvania. While managing his horses there, he worked three additional jobs, one of them as a sales representative for Singer. Hunter decided to pursue a life with the horses as he and his first wife Joan White King raised their four children Deborah “Debbie,” Stephen, Wendy and Douglas.

In the late 1950s, he purchased Roselawn Farm in Sugartown, which he grew into a well-respected show stable. Hunter competed and trained students at the most prestigious shows in the country, from the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden (New York) to the Pennsylvania National Horse Show to the Royal Winter Fair (Toronto) to the Devon Horse Show (Pennsylvania). Loving all aspects of life with horses, he became involved in every facet. He shod his own horses; he rode in timber races; he fox hunted with the Radnor Hunt; he owned and trained flat racehorses; he instructed riding at The Phelps School; he trained pentathlon horses for the DuPont family; he brought children up through Pony Club; and he built one of the first equine pools for rehabilitation at Roselawn.

 With his successful grand prix show jumper Rube, Hunter was scouted to represent the United States internationally; however, the amateur rules at the time meant he needed to finance his way, so Hunter declined, staying in Pennsylvania to run Roselawn. He won the heavy weight championship at the Radnor Hunt Point-to-Point with Mykonos, and he trained horses like Rockleigh, The Painter, The Eclipser and Sunday Painter at all the major flat tracks on the East Coast. He was known at the Reading Fair for putting on an exhibition each year with the highest jumping Morgan horse, King Midas. Unfortunately, a severe fall at a timber race altered his showing and riding career, but he then refocused to coaching and training students and horses.

With his second wife Anneliesa Frotzler King and their son Gregory, he “retired” to Bedford, Virginia, in 1994 and opened Rosehill Farm. He never really retired, though, as he and Anneliesa continued a sales barn, bred horses and took students to local and rated shows for the next 30 years.

He never tired of watching horses and always held a sense of excitement about what a horse could be. Through example, he taught students to hold that same respect for the animal, and with his matter-of-fact style and quick-witted humor, he instilled life lessons of compassion, courage and perseverance. He wanted to educate the next generation to not only be horsemen and horsewomen but also respectful and honorable people in the world.

He predeceased by his parents Harry and Mildred King and his siblings Lilly, Ada, Beatrice, Nellie, Olive, Anna, Harry, Helen “Sally,” Charles “Boo,” Freda and Orville.

He is survived by his wife Anneliesa King of Bedford, Virginia; his children Debbie King of Atglen, Pennsylvania, Steve King (Erika King) of Christiana, Pennsylvania, Wendy King Buitendijk (Hans Buitendijk) of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, Doug King of Malvern, Pennsylvania, and Gregory King (Alison King) of Raleigh, North Carolina; his grandchildren Diana, Weston, Gillian, Savannah and Cyndal; his great-grandson Harry; siblings Ida May K. Sheppeck and William Richard King; and close family friend Dr. Suzanne Shalet.

A memorial service in Hunter’s honor will be held at 11 a.m. at the Bedford Tharp Funeral Home (320 N Bridge St., Bedford, VA) on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Another service will be held in Pennsylvania at 10:30 a.m. at Willistown Friends Meeting (7069 Goshen Rd., Newtown Square, PA) on Thursday, Jan. 9, with condolences being at 9:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in Hunter’s honor to his GoFundMe (https://gofund.me/ 81ddfb24), which will be used to set up a memorial in his name at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia.

Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Bedford, is assisting the family.