Anita King
Anita Irene (Murphy) King passed away on Wednesday November 15th, 2023, near her retirement home in Oakland, California, just shy of her 88th birthday. She was born on November 26th, 1935 in Providence, Rhode Island and lived a very full life in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and California. She spent her latter years with her late husband Ralph Allan King, living amongst the idyllic vineyards and mountains of Santa Rosa, California.
Anita’s passions were music, art, genealogy, gardening, travel, family reunions, and the beauty of nature. She was a connoisseur of jazz music and enjoyed jazz clubs and outdoor concerts. She fostered a love of painting after retirement, shared her work in art shows, and continued working out of her studio in Santa Rosa until her later years. She maintained a sizeable collection of art from around the world, from Japanese to Mexican to West African to Polynesian, including masks, scrolls, and a lot of frogs. She followed her genealogy and that of others back for many generation and shared her findings with her network.
She loved to travel and she enthusiastically embraced other cultures through her adventures, her art, her collecting, and her cooking. She voyaged across North America, many National Parks, most of Europe, and North Africa. She brought the family together for many summer reunions in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Oregon, Colorado, and California. Her deep curiosity and enthusiasm for life were passed on to her children and grandchildren.
She will be greatly missed by two sons Mark Yampanis and his wife Wendy Blank of Berkeley, CA, and David Yampanis and his wife Wendy Prentiss of Norwell, MA, two stepdaughters Jessica King of Mukilteo, WA, and Jocelyn King of Portland, ME, her sister Eleanor (Smiley) Applegate of The Villages, FL, grandchildren Robert Yampanis of Washington, DC, and Clara Yampanis of Somerville, MA, and several nieces and nephews.