Sue Thweatt King

Mrs. Virginia Sue Thweatt King, 96, of Cleveland, passed away Tuesday, November 24, 2015, in Monroe, LA. Visitation will be 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Sunday, November 29, 2015, at Ray Funeral Home. Celebration of Life services will immediately follow beginning at 3:00 p.m. at Ray Funeral Home with Dr. Macklyn Hubbell officiating. Interment will be in New Cleveland Cemetery. Mrs. King was born at King's Daughters Hospital in Greenville, MS, on September 27, 1919, to Charles Clifford Thweatt and Mable Marie Rowe Thweatt. She started working in 1927, at the age of 8, by answering the phones for the family business, Thweatt Funeral Home. She attended Cleveland Consolidated School, now Cleveland High School, from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. During her high school years there, she played basketball on Coach Margaret Wade's first basketball team. She then furthered her education at Delta State Teacher's College where her activities ranged from playing on the soccer team to being selected as a "Delta Beauty". She was also the first female member of a flight team. In the early 1940's when the country was at war, there were few men on campus. The Air Force was organizing ten member flight teams on campuses to prepare pilots for WWII and allow for Delta State to have a flight school on campus. When there were only nine available men, she was asked to be the tenth member. Although she never served in the military, she received her pilot's license. She graduated Delta State Teacher's College in 1941 with a degree in Elementary Education. After graduation, she taught the 3rd grade in Eola, MS for 1 year. Mr. Nap Cassibry, Sr. needed help at the Cleveland State Bank due to the men going off to WWII, so Sue began working at the bank. Mrs. King visited a friend in New York while on vacation. Her friend attended Pratt Institute and while there Mrs. King met the Art School's director who hired as Registrar for the school because they loved her "Southern accent". She continued working there for two years, until she returned home to Cleveland after the war ended. She then joined the staff at Delta State working as the First Director of Admissions, a title given to her by former Delta State President, Dr. James Ewing, after she and H.L. Nowell began traveling to area high schools recruiting students on their own. As an employee in the registrar's office, she saw a need to actively recruit the best and brightest students to the university when many students had left campus for military service. These actions along with many others would eventually, in 2006, be why Mrs. Sue King became the second honoree to receive the Legacy Award, an award that is annually presented to a Delta State alumnus who have made an institutional changing contribution.
She met her husband, Martin Thomas King, Jr., first as a student and then he became the college accountant. On June 5, 1955, they married in Cleveland, MS. She and her husband bought her parent's business after her father became ill in 1956, and they owned and operated Thweatt-King Funeral Home together until 1994. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Cleveland as well as a very civic minded lady who was a member of numerous clubs. She was a charter member of the Cleveland Junior Axillary Club and acted as a traveling secretary for the National Organization. She was also one of the original organizers of the Cleveland Crosstie Arts Festival. Mr. and Mrs. King were married for 56 years before his passing in 2012. She is preceded in death by her husband and her parents. Mrs. King is survived by her son, Martin Thomas King III (Leanne Rutledge) of Stanley, NC; daughter, Virginia Thweatt King Meyers (Dr. Owen M. Meyers) of Monroe, LA; grandchildren, Noah Reese King of Stanley, NC, Virginia Caroline Meyers of Hattiesburg, MS, and Martin Graham Meyers of Monroe, LA; sister, Rea Thweatt Lambright (the late, Roger Lambright) of Ocala, FL; beloved cousin, Martha Morgan (Starkey Morgan) of Madison, MS; and many nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be David Putman, Carlton Edmonson, Greg Korb, Gerald Jacks, Paul Janoush, Billy Nowell, Kip Tyler, and David Walt. Honorary pallbearers will be Bill Bizzell, Kent Wyatt, Dave "Boo" Ferris, and past and present members of the Cleveland Volunteer Fire Department. In memory of Mrs. King, donations may be made to the Delta Arts Alliance or to Delta State University.

Visitation

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Sunday, November 29, 2015
Ray Funeral Home 206 Bishop Road Cleveland, Mississippi, United States

Celebration of Life

3:00 pm Sunday, November 29, 2015
Ray Funeral Home 206 Bishop Road Cleveland, Mississippi, United States