Linda Jeanne King, age 74 years, of Flemington, NJ, died peacefully on Sunday, January 12, 2025, at Hunterdon Medical Center, Raritan Township, NJ, surrounded by her loving family.
She was predeceased by her father, A. Earl Lightfoot (d. 2021) and mother Harriet (Johnson) Lightfoot (d. 2016) as well as her mother-in-law Laura King (d. 2010). She is survived by her husband of 51 years Hubert E. King, Jr., her daughter Elizabeth Nadler, son-in-law James Nadler and her beloved grandson Oliver Nadler. She is also survived by her two brothers, Charles Lightfoot and his spouse Cinda Lightfoot, David Lightfoot and his spouse Claudia Lightfoot, and her sister-in-law Cathy O’Bryan and her spouse Stephen O’Bryan.
She was born in Gary, Indiana, and grew up there through the first 3 years of elementary school. Her father then answered the call to join the Christian ministry and the family moved to Application Bible College, West Virginia. Following his graduation when Linda was in the 5th grade, they lived in Georgia until they returned to West Virgina two years later where they remained through Linda’s graduation from Shady Springs High School. Linda reflected that Shady Spring’s excellent education standards were a turning point for her and helped motivate her to pursue higher education. She graduated high school in 1968 and attended Brian College in Tennessee for her freshman year followed by University of Kentucky, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology in 1971.
While attending the University of Kentucky, Linda met Hubert at the Margaret I. King Library where they were both employed part time. Their connection was immediate, and it was not long before he was going home to West Virginia to meet Earl and Harriet. In May of 1973, Hubert and Linda were wed in Lexington, KY, by a local Episcopal minister who was happy to officiate, especially after Hubert fixed his TV. In August, Hubert and Linda set off on their New York adventure, moving to Long Island for Hubert to attend Stony Brook for his PhD. Linda was a supportive wife to Hubert as he pursued his education but was definitely not the type to sit at home during this time. She made many friends, was introduced to Italian recipes that ultimately made it into her “go-to” dishes over the years and began working at Honeywell International near Wall Street in New York City. A couple of years of that and some business courses, and she jumped to Scholastic Publishing. This was one of her dream jobs, reporting to the CEO, working with friendly, enthusiastic people and helping produce vital school materials. There she met a dear, life-long friend Martha. She too was a “Preacher’s Kid,” knowing all the challenges that presented. That bond between the two has survived many years and long distances.
Once Hubert finished his PhD, Linda got the chance to continue to advance her education and was accepted to the Columbia University MBA program in 1980. When she graduated in 1982, she accepted a position at Manufacturers Hanover Bank, and she and Hubert moved to Manhattan, purchasing their first apartment in 1982. They were in their 30’s, living in SOHO, and they embraced the rich culture available. Dance, music, art openings, theater. They attended and participated. Linda had her first Off-Off-Broadway theater debut in this ten-year period of living there. Theater was one of Linda’s passions in life. She was very proud of her time doing Off-Off Broadway plays and continued to enjoy attending performances even when she did not have time to be a part of them. Linda’s career continued to flourish during this time as well, and she became a Vice President at Citibank.
In 1990, Linda and Hubert welcomed their daughter Elizabeth into their lives. Despite her love of the city and her career, Linda wanted to raise her daughter somewhere with a yard to play in, so in 1992, she and Hubert made the move to Flemington, NJ. Linda was a wonderful mother and made the difficult decision to prioritize time with her daughter over continuing her banking career in New York City. She made the move to work at Fleet Bank in New Jersey to be closer to home.
She became active in the Flemington Presbyterian Church, joining in 1995. Elizabeth was baptized there in 1998, and Linda enjoyed the opportunity to teach in the Sunday School. She was ordained a Deacon in 1998 and was active on the Audit Committee for several years. This was a recurring theme for her, using her talents in finance to help others.
Despite being a working mother, Linda always found a way to prioritize her daughter Elizabeth. She was a co-leader for her girl scout troop when Elizabeth was young and became the ultimate “horse mom” as Elizabeth got older and her passion for horses grew. Linda spent countless hours at the barn and horse shows with Elizabeth, even in 20-degree or 90-degree temperatures. She would never have missed being there to support her daughter.
To help balance work life and contribute to enriching the lives of others, Hubert and Linda began to sponsor foreign students in the United States through the Au Pair program. This cultural exchange program allows foreign nationals to live with a host family in the United States and provide childcare. Over a five-year period through 2000, they sponsored four young women. All became part of the family while here. One, Martina from the Czech Republic, truly became a surrogate family member after she returned to the United States. Now living here in NJ with her husband and children, she and Linda bonded over common interests. Linda often said she felt like a surrogate grandmother for Martina’s children since her family still lives back in the Czech Republic.
Flemington was Linda’s home for most of the remainder of her life. Her professional life had its ups and downs as the Banking industry changed. She retired from Merril Lynch in 2010 and went into non-profit work. She was very passionate about helping others through this work as well as through her charity work. Her non-profit positions included Hunterdon Prevention Resources, Safe House Advocate, and Grant Writer.
Linda wanted to be sure she would make the largest impact possible when searching for a charity organization to get involved with. She found Rotary whose motto is “service above self” to be the perfect fit and she became an active member of the Lambertville-New Hope Rotary Club starting in 2008. She was later elected to be club president in 2012. Linda developed many friends through this. One in particular, Janice, became a very close friend who Linda kept in touch with until her passing.
She became a volunteer guardian to help those who had no one to advocate for them. She also channeled her passion for changing the world to be a better place into her volunteer work with the Hunterdon Democratic Party.
For the last few years, she had sought some more freedom to pursue her interests, eventually moving to her own apartment in Bethlehem, near to Elizabeth’s house. She said she wanted to be sure to be close by for babysitting once she became a grandma. During this period, she enjoyed having more time to read. Linda was always an avid reader, especially loving romance novels. She continued to have an amicable relationship with Hubert, and they remained married, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 2023.
Linda was thrilled to be entering a new phase of life in early 2024 with the long-anticipated birth of her grandson, Oliver. Unfortunately, just days before Oliver was born, she was hospitalized with a rare lung condition called cryptogenic organizing pneumonia which ultimately progressed into pulmonary fibrosis and chronic respiratory failure. Linda refused to let her struggles define her and fought so hard to get stronger throughout the year to be healthy enough to be there for Oliver. Despite challenge after challenge, Linda was so optimistic until the very end. She was the most loving Grandma to Oliver and even though she couldn’t be in Oliver’s life in the way she had envisioned, she kept up to date with every silly picture and milestone and regularly had facetime calls with Elizabeth and Oliver where she enjoyed watching Oliver play.
Family and friends will gather to reflect and celebrate on Sunday, January 26, 2025, from 1:00-2:30 p.m., in the Chapel of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ. In honor of Linda’s vibrant persona, please wear bright, cheery colors which would make anyone smile!
A life celebration service officiated by Rev. Amy Lincoln will take place at 2:30 p.m. at the funeral home, and to which all are welcome.
If you wish to have a memory read on your behalf and are unable to attend, please submit your thoughts by clicking HERE and kindly ensure you provide your full contact information. If you are having difficulty, please send an email to: careteam@wrightfamily.com.
For those who might be unable to be with the family in person, the life celebration tribute will be live-streamed with the link being active starting at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Interment will be private.
You are encouraged to visit Linda’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.
Memorial contributions in her honor and memory may be made by visiting her personal memorial site at the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation by clicking HERE.
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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”
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