Dr. Robert Eric King , Jr

Principal 1975-1982
September 16, 1928 - August 5, 2024

Meridian, Idaho - Robert King was a caring husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, son, brother, uncle, and friend. He passed away on August 5, 2024, in Meridian, Idaho, at the age of 95. He was surrounded by friends and family during his last days.

Robert was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to R.E. King Sr. and his wife, Pauline, on September 16, 1928. He lost his mother at the age of eight and moved with his extended family to San Diego, California, in 1939.

After graduating from San Diego High School in 1946, he signed a pro baseball contract and played in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona from 1947 to 1949. In 1950 and 1951, Robert was reassigned to play in Boise, Idaho, with the Yankee organization. He was very proud of his .334 batting average with Boise in 1951. It was in Boise that he met his wife of 57 years, Patricia Nanette Hawkins, and married her on December 16, 1951.

History took a turn at that point, requiring Robert to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1952 due to the Korean War. He was stationed in Quantico, Virginia, and commissioned as a second lieutenant. Kathryn Lynn King was born in Quantico in 1953, and Bob began playing baseball for the Quantico Marines baseball team.

Robert King graduated from San Diego State University in 1952 and Idaho State University in 1954. He and his family returned to Boise in 1955, where Robert Eric the III was born, and Bob began teaching at South Junior High. Bob also played four more years of baseball with the Boise Braves, and, in 1958, he was hired to be Borah High's first athletic director and baseball coach. He received his master's degree in 1961 from the College of Idaho. Then he moved the family to La Mesa, California, for one year, where Bob was a teacher and baseball coach at Monte Vista High School.

The family returned to Boise in the fall of 1962, where Bob became vice principal at Borah High for two years. He became principal at East Junior High from 1964-1967 and Boise High from 1967-1968 before returning to La Mesa to serve as an administrator in the Grossmont Union High School District.

Bob worked in various administrative positions in the Grossmont District from 1968 to 1975, earning his doctorate in 1973 and then becoming principal at Helix High in 1975. Bob thrived as principal at Helix from 1975 to 1982 before becoming Associate Superintendent of the Grossmont District from 1982 to 1989.

This remarkable man returned to baseball in 1989 as a scout for the Houston Astros after retiring from education. He eventually became the Astros' West Coast Supervisor, overseeing scouts throughout the western states. He learned so much from baseball and brought those lessons to life in his work with others.

After his active duty, he served as an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve. He retired as a full colonel after thirty-three years of service. He retired as a scout with the Houston Astros in 2017, finishing with a 2005 National League Pennant ring and a 2017 World Series ring.

Bob worked hard his whole life! He exercised nearly every day, staying in touch with almost every handball and racquetball partner he ever had. He was also determined to keep in touch with every friend who touched his life. According to him, his greatest accomplishment was serving as a caretaker of his beloved first wife, Pat, for ten years before her passing in October 2009. He then married Charlene Javernick in 2012, a good friend of Pat's and a great blessing to him and his family for the remainder of his life.

Robert E. King Jr. is survived by his second wife, Charlene; children Kathryn King and Rob King; stepchildren Leslie Beck, Donna Lemmelin, and Lonnie Barber and their spouses; grandchildren Heidi Rochin and Matt Sconyers; and great-grandchildren Enzo Rochin, Olivia Rochin, and Natalie Rochin.

A memorial service will be held at the Boise First United Methodist Church (Cathedral of the Rockies) on August 30 at 3:30 p.m.

Instead of flowers, donations can be made to one of the following:

Boise Public Schools Foundation, 8169 W. Victory Road, Boise, Idaho 83709, Boiseschoolsfoundation.com

Funds will support school baseball programs and youth scholarships in the Boise Schools.

Semper Fi and America's Fund, 825 College Blvd., Suite 102, PMB 609, Oceanside, California 92057, www.thefund.org/donate

 

 

CLASS OF 1975

SHEILA ANN ROBBINS

(9/11/1957 - 9/15/2009)

 

WHEATLEY, SHEILA ANN Sept. 11, 1957 to Sept. 15, 2009 Sheila, a San Diego native, passed away at the UCSD Thornton Hospital after a courageous 20-month battle with lung cancer. She was 52. An active and supportive member of various community organizations, she graduated from St. John of the Cross, Helix High School, and SDSU. In 2004, the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners selected Sheila as the Woman Business Owner of the Year. Sheila was a black diamond skier, a budding tennis player, and loved anything outdoors - especially the ocean. In December 2008, she and her husband Ken became ASA certified bareboat sailors and hoped to one day charter boats in the Caribbean. Her hobbies included traveling around the globe, including trips to Egypt, Jordan, Italy, the UK, Greece, the South Pacific, and Shanghai. She loved to hike, bike, read, do crossword puzzles, and recently discovered Suduko. She attended surfing camp in 2008. In 2004, Sheila and Ken completed a difficult 10 day Outward Bound expedition through the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas. She even rappelled off an 80 foot cliff for the first time, like a pro. Her passion though was her overly productive garden and orchard of apple, orange, plum, apricot, lime, and pear trees. She was especially looking forward to the first fruits from the avocado tree. No matter what though, except for work, she and Ken were inseparable. They couldn't spend enough time together. Her active life and marriage to her soul mate was senselessly cut short by lung cancer. There were so many more things that she wanted to do, and many more places to visit. Sheila never smoked and lived a very healthy lifestyle. She encourages everyone - especially women non-smokers - to get a simple chest x-ray to catch the disease early. Sheila's illness was not discovered until it was stage 4. She is preceded in death by her youngest brother and is survived by her loving husband, Ken Wheatley, seven sisters, two brothers, seven nephews, and five nieces. We are truly blessed to have had her in our lives, and her strength and courage will always be with us. Friends, family, and previous employees will remember her love of life and adventure, her boundless energy, and her continual eagerness to face her next challenge. A loving wife, sister, and aunt, her joyous spirit and ever present beautiful smile will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. Visitation and Remembrance Service will be held Monday, September 21, 2009, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at El Camino Memorial, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego, CA. Please make a contribution to the Lung Cancer Alliance to help find a cure.

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CLASS OF 1954

STANLEY CLAYTON DAVIES

(9/9/1936 - 4/15/2023)

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On April 15, 2023, Stan Davies passed away at his La Mesa residence in the company of his beloved family.

He was born Stanley Clayton Davies to Owen and Beulah Davies in New London, CT, on September 9, 1936. As the son of a Naval officer, he lived many places before settling in San Diego. In 1951, he entered the newly built Helix High School where he was a stand-out athlete in three sports, including football, his first love.

At Pomona College, in addition to playing on the Sagehen football team, he was elected to a men's honorary service society, the Ghosts, and chaired the student Judiciary Council. At graduation in 1958, Stan earned his Bachelor's Degree in Botany and his father, a Pearl Harbor survivor, commissioned him as an Ensign in the Naval Reserve.

Three days after graduation from Pomona, Stan married his Pomona classmate and life partner, Elaine Godding. His Naval postings took them to Hawaii where he joined the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific fleet, and to Washington DC where he studied Russian and served in naval intelligence during the Cuban Missile crisis. During his final tour in the Philippines, he established a courier station during the Tonkin Gulf Crisis.

In 1964, Stan left the Navy and began a career in secondary education which included a year teaching and coaching at St. Augustine High School and then 32 years in the Grossmont Union High School district where, in 1974, he was on the founding staff of Valhalla High School. A consummate educator, he had a lasting influence on high school students, teaching biology, coaching varsity football, and providing career guidance and college counseling. He continued his own education, earning an MA at Cal Western University and doing post-graduate studies at Oregon State University on a National Science Foundation grant. He retired in 1996 and pursued his love of gardening, fishing, Bridge and traveling the world over with family and friends.

As husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, his family was always first in Stan's heart. He is survived by Elaine, his wife of 65 years, his daughters, Claire Bridge and Gayle Fisher, his son, Scott Davies, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Services will be private. Donations may be made to Meals-on-Wheels, San Diego, or Sharp-Grossmont Hospice.

 

CLASS OF 1954 

GEORGE MITROVICH

(7/29/1935 - 7/24/2019) San Diego

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     A man of intellect, passions and pursuits, George Sherman Mitrovich was an immutable force in San Diego and elsewhere for more than a half-century.Mr. Mitrovich, best known to his many friends as George, died on July 24, 2019, at age 83, several days before his next birthday. A native San Diegan, George was a proud graduate of Helix High, where he competed in baseball and basketball. He earned his undergraduate degree from Pasadena College, which later became Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. In 2007, the institution awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.George might have been most proud of his lengthy career as a ballplayer. He played and served as a player/manager for several decades with the Marston Mets of the San Diego Adult Baseball League (SDABL), 45 and over division.George's world was one without limits on whatever he deemed intellectually stimulating and worthy of impassioned dialogue, his sharp wit and high-pitched laugh always a welcome presence.His close connections to leaders of influence were legendary, extending into politics, civics, religious history, philosophy, literature and, of course, baseball. It seemed as if he knew everyone who was anyone, not only in San Diego but everywhere else his travels took him. When George said he "knew" someone, it was doubtless true, despite his forgivable tendency to drop more than a few names. Above all, he was a crusader for the enduring tenets of democracy, civility and kindness, given freely to all those he met along the way whatever their social standing. A life-long Democrat, George earned his political stripes with several national figures, led by his role as press aide to the presidential campaign of 1968 of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He subsequently served as press secretary to Senator Charles E. Goodell (R-NY), whose son Roger went on to become NFL Commissioner; and Senator Harold E. Hughes, Democrat of Iowa. He later served as the driving force for public forums in San Diego (The City Club), Denver, Boston and Washington DC. In a span of more than 40 years, he presented more than 2,000 public forums in those cities, an average of some 50 every year.George also chaired the Red Sox's annual birthday tribute to Jackie Robinson and played a pivotal role in Robinson posthumously receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in 2005. A United Methodist layman, he preached in some of America's leading churches, including Washington's National Cathedral and Highland Park United Methodist in Dallas. In addition, George wrote extensively for numerous major local and national publications, as well as faith-based magazines.Throughout his life, George served on dozens of public boards and commissions that helped re-shape San Diego, most notably as chairman of the Committee on Charter Reform, whose proposal for changing city government from council manager to mayor council was adopted by voters in 2004. He also chaired the Committee of 2000, a citizens group that successfully supported the building of Petco Park, which opened in 2004.

George Mitrovich leaves behind his wife, La Verle; their three children, Carolyn, Mark and Tim; and three grandchildren.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the George Mitrovich Memorial Journalism Scholarship at Point Loma Nazarene University, attn. Dean Nelson, PLNU, 3900 Lomaland Drive, San Diego, CA 92106 or online at www.pointloma.edu/mitrovich

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