Melvin D. King Jr. passed peacefully in his sleep on February 17, 2011 at his home in Helena. Mel was born August 31, 1947 in Helena to Melvin and Margaret King.<\/p>\n
Mel graduated from Helena High Senior High School in 1965, and went to work at the Burlington Northern freight dock. In the fall, he attended Eastern Montana College in Billings. The following year, Mel followed in his fathers footsteps, and joined the Navy. Mel was stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines, serving with Harbor Clearance Unit 1, Salvors. He received an Honorable Discharge in 1969, and returned to Helena to work at Burlington Northern Railroad in the roundhouse. Mel then trained as an engineer, and went on to serve 30 years as an engineer working the helpers out of Helena for Burlington Northern, then hiring on at the start of Montana Rail Link where he helped train new engineers. He then transferred to Missoula were he ran freights between Missoula and Spokane. He retired from the railroad after 38 years of railroading.<\/p>\n
When he wasn\u2019t running trains, Mel enjoyed fishing for perch at Placid Lake with the family, trolling at Canyon Ferry, and generally enjoying his boat. He also was an accomplished bowler, rolling a 300 game in 1987. Mel enjoyed all forms of outdoor activities, and was an accomplished golfer and hunter.<\/p>\n
Mel was preceded in death by his mother, Margaret, in 1998. He is survived by his father, Mel Sr. of Helena; sisters, Susan (Gary) Schmidt of East Helena and Nora (Steve) Wriston of Baker City, Oregon. Mel also is survived by his \u201cadopted\u201d son, Dan King and his wife Julie, and son Ryan; nephews, Jason (Molly) Schmidt, great nephew, Keller Schmidt, Jeff Schmidt, Dave Ekman all of Helena, and Cody Wriston of Baker City, Oregon. Mel is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins in the Helena area.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn to better hunting grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Graveside Service with Military Honors is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery, Ft. Harrison. A reception will follow the service at the Service Club on the Fort. To offer a condolence to the family or to share a memory of Melvin, please visit www.retzfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/1079024.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/23286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}