Suzanne King

Suzanne King, born Suzanne Skerrett Hullfish, died of natural causes on January 21, 2022, in Alexandria, Virginia. She was 95. 

Born on March 2, 1926, to Anna Birgitta Bjornstad and Wilson Skerrett Hullfish in Oakland, California, Suzanne lived the life of a “Navy Junior” between the wars, attending 4 high schools in 4 years as her father was transferred from base to base, including the Francis Parker School in San Diego and Pensacola High School in Florida.  She attended Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and graduated from University of California Berkeley with a degree in English. After college, she worked at the California School for the Deaf. 

In 1948, she married John Warburton King Jr., then a Navy Ensign whose career rose over the following decades to the rank of Captain. Suzanne took care of their growing family at assignments that included Newport, Rhode Island; Long Beach, California; Great Lakes, Illinois, and Washington, DC. Her husband retired from the Navy in 1975 and died at their home in neighboring Alexandria, Virginia, in 1995. 

Suzanne was a keen bridge player and enjoyed her years of part-time work at Patten’s Party Place and Iberian Imports in Old Town Alexandria. She also worked as a docent at Woodlawn Plantation and the Pope Leighey House, one of Suzanne’s favorites. She overcame a lifelong distrust of airplanes to become an intrepid traveler in her later years, traveling to Europe, Alaska, and Australia. She enjoyed skipjack cruises in Maine and the Caribbean. In her 70s, she took a helicopter to the top of a glacier in Alaska, and at 88, she traveled to France and visited Monet’s Gardens at Giverny. 

Suzanne is survived by her four children, Katie Zeigler, John Warburton King, Robert Wilson King, and Sallie King Roberts, as well as five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  

A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, Old Mill Road, Alexandria, Virginia, on April 23rd, and a private burial will take place next year next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that friends donate to Episcopal Relief & Development, https://www.episcopalrelief.org/. 

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