Jack Louis King

Jack Louis King, of Amarillo, passed peacefully from this life at the age of 89 on August 23rd, 2025.

A celebration of his life will be held at 2:00 pm on Monday, September 8th, at Boxwell Brothers Ivy Chapel, 2800 Paramount Blvd. in Amarillo.

Jack was born on April 1, 1936 in Lovelace, Texas to Zella Preston and Gilbert Buford King. After graduating from Hillsboro High School in 1954, where he excelled in swimming and music, he attended Arlington State College and later TCU on music scholarships. At the beginning of the 1957 school year, while a senior at TCU, he met the love of his life, a beautiful freshman girl from Comanche named Rebecca Baxter. They married in Robert Carr Chapel at TCU on May 30th, 1958, the day after he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education.

His first teaching job was back in Becky’s hometown where he was Mr. King, the high school band director, and where she navigated being a very recent classmate with her husband’s students, many of whom became lifelong friends. While in Comanche their sons, Jeff and Jon, were born.

In 1968, Jack drove his young family to Dalhart where he built the Golden Wolf Band into a major force, winning multiple Sweepstakes awards, representing DHS in performances from Honolulu to Corpus Christi, and marching over 140 kids in a high school of less than 400 students. A gifted motivator, he may be the only high school band director known for his thunderous football pep rally speeches.

In 1972, Jack left teaching and entered the banking business, serving the communities of Dalhart, Post, Borger, and Amarillo over a 30-year career. A hallmark of his professional life was his civic leadership serving as President of the Comanche and Dalhart Chambers of Commerce, President of the Dalhart ISD School Board, and as Chairman and Director of numerous other boards, committees, and charitable events.

A longtime member of the Lions Club, Jack held many leadership offices and served the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville, a summer camp for children with physical disabilities, as President in 2010-2011. In 2021 he was honored as the namesake of the Jack King Classic Golf Tournament in Amarillo, benefiting the Camp and numerous other Lions charities across the panhandle.

After notable careers in banking and law, Jack and Rebecca enjoyed their retirement years together with their friends and family at their beloved Cottonwood Ranch near Hedley, and their homes in Amarillo and Taos.

Jack is survived by his wife, Rebecca; his sons Jeff (Sally) and Jon (Karina); his grandchildren Preston (Amanda), Brant (Creighton), Julia, Sydney, and Grace; his great-granddaughter Brixtynn; and by hundreds of his former students who fondly remember Mr. King’s passion for music, his silly sense of humor, his relentless demand for hard work and success, and his unwavering love and confidence in them even when he had to throw a drumstick to get their attention. Gabriel and Joshua have a new member in their heavenly brass band, and it just got a whole lot louder and more fun.