Violet Lilian King

Violet was born in a suburb of London, England on October 7, 1919. She grew up with two brothers, Lesley and Peter, one older, one younger. Her father worked for the local transit agency, and her mother was a homemaker. Upon graduation from high school, an honor student, she got a job in London with a publishing company. She took the train early each day into the city, to take advantage of the “cheap” fare, and buy two. One for her, and one for a friend, who took a later train. She would stash the friend’s ticket in the phone book near the station, to enable her to save on the fare!! Violet was very smart, and very frugal!!

In the late 1930’s and early 40’s, World War II occupied England’s attention!! Violet recalls the time as “quite exciting”, with the air raids, and the shelters!! The US Air Force had many men stationed in England during that time. Violet met one, Vern King, and they married in 1945, at the end of the war. Vern returned to the US with his unit, and Violet came to the US with many other “war brides”, on a ship from England to New York. Vern remained with the Air Force, and was stationed in Southern California, near Barstow, where Violet gave birth to a son Richard in 1948. The family stayed in that area for another 10 years. Vern then took a job with Stanford Linear Accelerator in 1958, and moved to a new house in Redwood City with Violet and Richard. Violet raised Richard and supported her husband during this time. Richard graduated high school, and also joined the Air Force. With Richard raised, Violet was eager to go to work, which she loved, and took a job with the San Mateo County Probation Dept. She enjoyed this very much, as the staff was made up of some very engaging and lively people!! She made many friends. During this time, Violet became a widow, as her husband Vern died of heart issues in 1976. After the Air Force, her son Richard began a career in stage production in Las Vegas. Richard also had some heart issues, and died quite young in 1998.