Frieda King

Frieda King Manweiler died on November 21, 2020 at Butterfield Trail Village in Fayetteville, Ark., shortly before her 106th birthday, going home to her beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Born Frieda Pauline Hartzler on January 3, 1915, on a farm near Alton, Kan., she was the fifth child and first daughter of Peter Hartzler and Alma Funk Hartzler. There were ultimately 11 children. Frieda was the last survivor. The farmstead was poor, and life was difficult, especially after her father died of diabetes, then untreatable. Only by the dint of prayer and good fortune was she able to attend high school. As a senior she wrote an essay on homeschooling her youngest sister in kindergarten. Her essay won first prize in the Kansas competition and was among the top 10 nationally. Thanks to that, she got a job as a schoolteacher at a one-room Kansas school when she graduated from high school. In the Depression year of 1933 more than 100 candidates vied for that job paying $35 monthly. She lived at home, and her salary was the sole regular outside income for the family. In 1940 she married Leicester Thomas King. In 1944 son Alvin Thomas King was born, followed by John LeRoy King in 1948. The family moved frequently, from Kansas to various places in Oregon and California, before settling in Bakersfield in 1956. Frieda taught kindergarten in the Bakersfield schools until she retired as Teacher of the Year in 1976. She was an outstanding teacher. She had been unable to attend college immediately after high school because of the need to work but attended summer school when possible and took evening classes. It was very slow, but she persevered and received her BA in 1962. She taught excellence by example. Tom was valedictorian of Bakersfield High School and attended Stanford on scholarship where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Great Distinction. He received a PhD in Economics from Yale where he met and married Jill Anne Gordon, a classmate in the economics program. Frieda worked hard with her younger son, John, to help him overcome a bad stammer. He then became a champion debater and won prizes for speeches at the state level. He also attended Stanford and graduated with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa. He was admitted to both Stanford and Harvard Law and chose to remain at Stanford where he earned his JD. He married Cynthia Lasher and had three sons, Nicholas Brian, Warren Thomas, and Joseph Lester. John died in an automobile accident in 1993. Early on, Frieda applied sweat equity and the magic of leverage to her very modest financial base to acquire real estate, including several small motels. The motels suffered after the new interstate by-passed the old route, but she persevered. After her husband died in 1977, she continued to manage the motels by herself and even fought off armed robbers. In the mid-80s she moved to Kern City, a retirement village adjacent to Bakersfield. She had always been artistic, painting in pastels, watercolors, and oils. Now she turned to porcelain painting, had her own kiln, and won numerous blue ribbons at the county fair. She married a second time, to Fred Manweiler, and enjoyed trips to Hawaii and Israel. In 2009, at the age of 94, she left her home in Bakersfield to move to Butterfield Trail Village in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to be close to her son and his wife who had moved to Fayetteville from Maryland. Although shy, she worked hard to develop new friends, chiefly by assisting younger neighbors who needed help as they aged. Increasingly severe macular degeneration limited her activities as the years passed as did the infirmities of extreme old age. Nevertheless, she maintained an optimistic, pleasant outlook. She used to joke, "given all the problems that come with being 95, who would want it?" Answer: "Someone who is 94." She maintained her positive outlook until almost the very end, when her infirmities and Covid-19 finally overcame her resilient spirit. Frieda is survived by her son Thomas (Jill), three grandsons, one great-grandson, and many nieces and nephews. Her children shall rise up and call her blessed. Local arrangements are under the care of Rollins Funeral Home in Rogers.