Sheldon Emmett King

While in hospice care for stage-4 colon cancer, Sheldon died of a mercifully massive stroke on 3/28/2024 at his home outside Lakewood, Colorado. He had bounced back from three rounds of chemo and felt cheerful and self-sufficient on the morning that he passed.
Born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, to Mary Jane (Kern) King and Donald Ensor King, he lived in Edgewater, Colorado, until his parents divorced when he was six. His mother moved Sheldon and his older sister, Claudia Ellen, to her family home in Powell, Ohio, eventually settling in Springfield where she taught elementary school until retirement. Within a few years she married Samuel McBlane, who had grown children of his own, Becky and Jim.
Sheldon attended Springfield public schools except for his sophomore year, when he moved to Colorado Springs and attended Palmer High School, living with his father, stepmother Luallen (Beck) King, and her son, James Lee Moore (Palmer HS '66). Quiet, serious, athletic and accomplished, Lee Moore was Sheldon's opposite, but he became Sheldon's role model. Sheldon admired Lee, and tried to live up to the standards he set.
Thanks to Luallen's parents, Lucille and Allen Beck, Sheldon spent part of each summer in Central City, Colorado, where he learned to chop wood for the woodstove and to play bridge. There the eldest player would be paired with the youngest, so Sheldon played with "Grammie" Beck. Her bridge-inspired declarations live on: "Lead trump or sleep in the ditch," and "Never send a boy to do a man's work."
Although only 15, the following summer he was hired by the YMCA's Camp Shady Brook, where he assisted the counselors, including leading boys on hair-raising adventures.
Back in Springfield, Sheldon worked after school at the Union Settlement House, playing basketball and providing diversions for under-privileged children. There he met Mrs. Fitch who welcomed him into her large family. He fondly recalled her, as well as Springfield high school teacher Mrs. Calabrese, who allowed him to live in her spare room when he was in conflict with his mother and stepfather. Sheldon graduated from South High in Springfield in 1968.
Among his many teen jobs, Sheldon helped his stepbrother, Jim (Jimmy) McBlane, fix up rental properties in Springfield. Jim had a soft spot for his young step-bother and let him drive his barely-running automobiles. He taught Sheldon to always save 10% of his income, a lesson Sheldon put into practice at a young age. In return, Sheldon
invented a cheap, quick-fix wall treatment: adding paint directly to the wall texture in order to save a step. Jimmy dubbed it "Shel-Glow."
For college, Sheldon attended Bowling Green State University (Ohio), followed by Clark State College (Springfield, Ohio), and Colorado College. Eventually he graduated from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) in 1980 with a BA in Philosophy. He joked that his college career was "a tour of colleges of the Midwest." He attended graduate school at DU in International Relations.
In 1973 Sheldon married Mary Ellen Davis (of Concord, Mass.) whom he met at Colorado College, and they settled in Colorado Springs. Their adored daughter, Alexis, was born in 1980. Sheldon and Mary Ellen enjoyed more than 50 years of marriage.
Idealistic to a fault, as he admitted, he lived a life of purpose. Sheldon spent his career working for nonprofits that served the poor. While still a CC student, he helped found Hope Coronado Federal Credit Union (a vestige of President Johnson's War On Poverty that was later absorbed by Ent Credit Union) and later became the manager. Later he worked at the Job Training Partnership Administration (El Paso County), Consumer Credit Counseling Service, Greccio Housing, and for 18 years at Ithaka Land Trust, providing housing for the homeless and unwanted.
At Hope-Coronado Credit Union Sheldon met his friend and mentor, Helen M. Riordan (originally of Binghamton, New York), who took on favorite-aunt status in the young family.
Sheldon played guitar, bass guitar, and bass viol in the local bands Windsong (with his father Don King), the Bill Sutton Jazz Quartet, and played country-western with Eddie Jones & the Buckshots. During his final year he started taking guitar lessons, until chemo impacted his grip. After the chemo dissipated, he picked up his guitar again.
Although in high school he played football, basketball, and ran the hurdles in track, his true passion was basketball. As an adult, many Saturdays he played in the pick-up game at Colorado Springs' West Junior High playground, and he ran a weekly game in the gym at West for many years. He also played in the Lutheran League and at other school gyms. As time went on he joked that he had become one of those old-timers who throws their weight around to make up for their slow reflexes and slower legs, but he refused to join a "senior" b-ball team. Sore knees forced him to take time out at 68 and then Covid struck, putting an end to his basketball career.
As a kid Sheldon went up in a neighbor's small plane and he was hooked, eventually getting a private pilot license and buying a Cessna 172, N77910. He flew the family across the Midwest for vacations and went alone for work trips. In 2007 he flew Mary Ellen to South Padre Island. His favorite flight was crossing the Continental
Divide and proceeding to Seattle for his niece Cricket's wedding. On that trip he had the thrill of landing and departing at Boeing Field.
In the early 2000s Sheldon switched to flying a Remos, a light-sport aircraft with a whole-plane parachute, enabling him to continue flying (he was sure he wouldn't pass the private pilot's medical). In his final week, it pleased him to know that the Remos had an enthusiastic buyer.
For a quarter of a century he applied his philosophical training to the books read by his raucous nonfiction book club. Sheldon relished these monthly meetings where the members gathered to harass, tease, and challenge each other over a good meal (and wine!).
In the late 1990s he collaborated with Mary Ellen running their small publishing business, Media Base. They continued to live in Colorado Springs until 2019, when they moved to unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, to be closer to their grandchildren. Sheldon spent many joyful days with the kids and loved them very much. Among other lessons, he introduced them to Sonar Sea Battle and the concept of ranked choice voting (as a method of picking restaurants-In-and-Out Burger always won).
Sheldon's greatest gift remained the zany sense of humor that infused fun into everyday life. Thus he dubbed their last house in Colorado Springs "The Finca del Rey, Home of Retired Horses;" and, prophetically, he named the Jefferson County house, "The Last Chapter Ranch." Of his metastasized colon cancer diagnosis he quipped, "At least it's not stage 5!"
Sheldon is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen Davis; their daughter and her family; step-mother Jessie M. King of Colorado Springs; sister Penny McBlane Ake and her children Kristin Fitzwater Hutson, Caleb Ake, Erin Ake, and Michael Anthony Ake McBlane, plus Penny's grandchildren; brother-in-law Ron Jones and his children Megan Jones Newell and Amy Beth Jones, and Ron's grandchildren. In addition, Sheldon's stepsiblings: Ann Spencer of Colorado Springs and Bill Spencer of Monterey, Calif.; and Becky McBlane Braden of Branson, Missouri, and her family.
Among his in-laws he is survived by Deborah Davis Stewart, her partner Warren Borrows, her daughter, Christine McCleary, and grandsons; Philip W. "Wink" Davis and his wife Max Eisele, Wink's daughters Maggie Davis and Andrea Davis Roldan, her husband Manuel Roldan, and Wink's grandchildren; and Max's children Aniela Swider and Nik Swider, and Max's grandsons.
In addition he is missed by the critters that he loved: Radar, the dog he chose for adoption; Reina, the Quarter Horse mare; and Bernie, the white Shetland rescue pony. Sheldon claimed he was their world-class stable boy.
Sheldon was pre-deceased by his beloved sister, Claudia E. Jones, d. 2017; and his stepbrother James Lee Moore who was killed in Vietnam, 9/5/1969. Others include
his parents and stepparents Donald E. King; stepmother Luallen King; and Mary Jane and Sam McBlane; and stepsiblings James L. McBlane and wife Cheryl; and Roger Braden (husband of Becky McBlane Braden).
Sheldon always sided with the underdog and sought to bend the world to his ideals, describing himself as an "ethical mammal," his wry self-evaluation.
A memorial event is being planned.
All-States Cremation - Wheat Ridge