About Me

Let me introduce myself. I am Dr. Kathy King, born and raised in the beautiful state of Arkansas. My parents recognized and encouraged the creative streak in me at a very young age. They put me in choir where I learned to sing and read music, piano lessons where I didn’t learn anything but that I was not meant to be a piano player, Girl Scouts where I learned a love for the out of doors, and finally art lessons with Marjorie Chamberlain where I learned a lifelong love of painting.

 

When I was twelve and in love with folk music and the Beatles, they bought me a Gibson guitar with nylon strings which I still love to play today. I graduated from high school and made a financially smart decision to attend the local college, Southern Arkansas University where both of my parents were professors. Back then there was a college brat scholarship for children of teachers so that combined with several academic and band scholarships allowed me to go pretty much for free. An agreement was reached where my parents agreed to pay for graduate degrees which allowed me to get ready to teach at the college level which I did at age 22. A master’s from the University of Arkansas and much, much later a doctorate from the University of Georgia in Recreation Administration completed my formal education.

Most recently I have taught Health and Physical Education at the University of Arkansas Monticello where I used my creative streak to make learning as fun as I could make it. When I retired in 2016, I went through a series of big, life changing events like marriage, moving to a new house, the death of my mother, starting a rental business, the marriage of my youngest daughter, the birth of her two babies, Covid, two years of Pandemic, and cancer which I fought hard for a year and beat with the help of God and good doctors.

 

I have been very blessed to have good people in my life. My husband is a retired school principal, musician and songwriter. His support, encouragement, contacts and expertise helped me with the music component of this book. I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere without him. My husband, children and grandchildren love me and that’s all I will ever need!