About Jim King
A life that touches the hearts of others lives on forever!
Jim King was born December 15, 1960 in Montrose, Pennsylvania, but moved to the Valley area when he was 5 years old. He attended and graduated from Athens Area School District in Athens, Pennsylvania. Jim was employed by Williams Auto Group as their Parts & Service Director. He treated his customers and employees with the respect, care, and attention he believed they deserved. While employed with the Toyota division of Williams Auto Group, they were presented with the Toyota Presidents Award for the top Parts and Service Department and Customer Service in the nation.
Jim’s life spoke of his commitment to those he loved and the community that he served. Jim was a lifetime member of Greater Valley EMS. At the age of 18, he joined the Athens Township Volunteer Fire Company and held many offices during his career. He served as Chief for 12 years and was serving in that capacity at the time of his death. He believed that the fire companies of the Valley and all fire companies play an important role in their communities.
His belief was not that they were there just to fight fires but to teach and educate people in the importance of being prepared for fires and community emergencies. He saw the importance of proper training for the volunteer firefighters and was instrumental in many of the training procedures setup for the company. He also saw a real need to educate children and instituted the first Fire Safety Trailer for training in the county. He worked towards educating people in that the best way to fight a fire was to try to prevent them.
After a tragic accident involving teenagers who had been drinking, Jim became an activist to prevent further incidents by staging mock accidents to encourage young adults to see the affects of drinking and driving. On 9/11, the day none will ever forget, Jim with the other chiefs in the area, helped to organize a memorial service to honor those firefighters who sacrificed their lives that day. He saw a need and quickly supported any help that the fire company could offer by either going to New York City or helping to arrange donations to be sent to help the families.
Jim raised and trained his bloodhound, Questor, which he used in search and rescue operations. He had purchased another bloodhound, Orion, when he became ill and though he was not completely trained, he went with another family and is now trained and also participating in search and rescues. Jim had a commitment to helping those in need in whatever capacity he could whether it was serving dinners at holiday times, volunteering his dogs for searches or just being there for someone who needed to talk.
