TULSA -- Clark Merton King, 88, a former rural Thayer resident, died Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, at a retirement community in Tulsa, where he had resided for several years.

He was born Nov. 3, 1920, in Edmond, Okla., to Forest and Anna King. He graduated from Foyil High School and from Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) with a degree in agricultural engineering.

He married Dorothy May Chicken in 1942 and bought a 320 acre farm near Thayer.

He served briefly in the U.S. Air Force near the end of World War II. He served in the Korean War in the Air Force. After that he served four years in the Pentagon where he retired in 1968 at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He retired from farming in 1999 and maintained a small herd of cattle for a couple of years afterward.

There will be no memorial service in accordance with Clark's request. He will be buried in South Center Cemetery near Thayer. Reynolds Funeral Service, 1916 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, 74112, is in charge of arrangements.