ELLISTON, Va. (WDBJ) – Seas of green and fall colors filled Eastern Montgomery High School Saturday to match the nature-loving spirit of Holly King.
“Holly loved trees, and she loved all different kinds of trees. For Holly, if she was a tree, her root system was love. She was deeply rooted in love,” said her father, Richard “Bugsy” King.
Holly King was a teacher at Eastern Montgomery High School, resident of Craig County and to friends, family and her students, “an adventure incarnate, a playful spirit radiating perpetual sunshine.”
“She was a joyful, very open spirit and outgoing. I swear there would never be a one moment without her singing up and down these halls,” said Rebecca Creed, a longtime student of King. “I loved it. I loved it so much.”
Friday, September 27, King passed away in her home during the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
“I was in disbelief. I just didn’t want to physically believe it, because I was like, ‘I just saw her Thursday. I just saw her,’ I don’t want to believe it.”
But the unique memories King created with countless people as a dancer, adventurer and self-proclaimed “Princess Warrior” are some everyone said they will never forget.
They shared those memories and tributes to King at a Celebration of Life at EMHS Saturday.
“She was strong, kind, generous, courageous. That girl was courageous,” said Bugsy.
“Holly was a leader. She was a peer mediator from elementary school all the way through her entire career,” said her mother, Susan King. “She had the gift of listening to people and helping them solve problems.”
“She would stop by my house whenever she had a minute or if she was bored. She never had anything important to say or do, she never knocked, she just burst right in,” said a close friend of King. “I’m going to miss that.”
“If you needed someone to talk to, she was there. If you needed a hug or a friend, she was there. You needed a teacher to help you on with work that’s not even in your class, she’s there,” said Creed.
At the end of celebration, song and dance rang through the hallways King made a dance floor herself as her loved ones danced to Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO!”
Even in her passing, King continues to support her students. EMHS is creating a scholarship fund in her honor called the “Holly King Memorial Scholarship Fund.”
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