PATTY BETH BASS KING was a teacher at Ranger High School.
in Ranger, TX. She grew up in Abilene. Her father, Dr.
Bass was responsible for starting the Abilene State School,
which at the time, specialized in patients who had seizures.
She graduated from Abilene High School and later graduated
from Southern Methodist University. She had both a school
teaching certificate and an x-ray technicians certificate.
Later in her life, she used them both. She married Momon
Lee "M.L." King in Abilene in 1929. About 1929 they opened
a Dr. Pepper Bottling Company in Strawn and later moved
the company to Ranger. They had two children while they
were living in Strawn but the children were born in Abilene.
Sara Beth King was in the RHS Class of 1953 & Momon Lee
King, Jr., was in the Class of 1959.
Patty was primarily a homemaker until her husband developed
poor health and so she started teaching English at Ranger
High School. She was especially active in her church, First
United Methodist of Ranger and in several civic activities.
She died in June of 1963 after a courageous battle with
cancer. Her last year of teaching, she was nothing short
of heroic in dealing with the disease while finishing the
school year.
HUSBAND: MOMON LEE "M.L." KING, SR., grew up in Crawford,
TX, where he completed high school there and graduated
from a business school in Waco. While working as a salesman
for an athletic company he met & married Patty Beth Bass of
Abilene and they had two children. Shortly after their
wedding, they moved to Strawn where he opened up a Dr.
Pepper Bottling plant. After moving the plant to Ranger,
M.L. King, as plant owner, donated the scoreboard for the
football field at Bulldog Stadium and it was the scoreboard
there for many years even after Mr. King gave up the Dr
Pepper business because of health problems. He operated
the King's Cove drive-in restaurant for a number of years
until his health again intervened. He had started a small
casualty insurance agency shortly before his death on
Dec. 24, 1962.