Lloyd E. King ( Missoula 1944 )
posted: Jan 1, 2002
Lloyd died on August 14, 2001, of pneumonia and heart failure. He was born October 13, 1916, on the family farm close to Gridley, Illinois. He went to a one-room school for his elementary education and attended the Mennonite Church in Flanagan, IL.
Lloyd did farm work for three years before taking auto shop training in Chicago. He then started as a mechanic in the Ford garage in Roanoke, IL.
He was drafted into Civilian Public Service in May of 1942 and joined the Missoula smokejumper unit in 1944 where he also jumped the 1945 season. He had eight training and six fire jumps in the 1944 season which tied him with John Shipp for the high man in fire jumps. During the 1945 season, he had two training and four fire jumps.
After the war he returned to Illinois and then moved to La Junta, Colorado where he worked as an auto mechanic. From 1957 to 1972, Lloyd worked as a Maintenance Engineer at the Pioneer Hospital in Rocky Ford, CO.
In 1972 he started his own auto shop and operated that until his retirement in 1980.