She was born on October 13, 1934, in Crescent City, CA, to the late Marian G. and Lowell J. Smith. She attended the Catlin Gable Independent Day School in Portland, OR, and Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. On June 25, 1955, she married Richard A. King.
In 1973 Ms. King earned a Bachelor of Science, Music Education, from the University of Southern Maine, Gorham; she was the program’s first organ major. She earned the American Guild of Organists’ Colleague Degree in 1984.
Zona and her family moved to Brunswick, ME, in 1964. She served as organist at First Parish Church in Brunswick from 1970 to 1986, and chapel organist at Bowdoin College from 1975 to 1992. In 1973 she joined the faculty of the Waynflete School in Portland, ME. While there, she taught K-12 music and art history, and later served as Chairman of the Arts Department and Dean of Faculty. She retired in 1996.
She is survived by her daughter and her husband, Elizabeth G. K. Hess and Brian N. Hess, Orlando, FL; her daughter and her husband, Amy A. King and John R. Gilliom, Athens, OH; her foster daughter and her husband, Dolly and Hank Luwisch, Livingston, NJ; seven grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard A. King, her son, Timothy H. King, and her brother, Garrett Smith.
There will be a memorial service for Zona C. King at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, November 3, at First Parish Church, 207 Maine Street, Brunswick, ME, officiated by the Reverend Mary Baard. Zona’s ashes will be interred in the church’s memory garden on Mere Point Road in Brunswick.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to Appalachian Community VNA Hospice, 30 Herrold Ave., Athens, OH 45701, the Music Ministry of First Parish Church, 9 Cleaveland St., Brunswick, ME 04011, or the Zona King Scholarship for the Arts, Waynflete School, 360 Spring St., Portland, ME 04102.
A copy of this obituary is available online at www.brackettfuneralhome.com.
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