Educator Ray King worked to help fellow women teachers gain professional training and support through the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.
Many talented classroom teachers are also devoted to assisting their colleagues in their efforts to become better educators. One of these was Ray Holden King, a junior high school history teacher from Texas. She worked to provide professional training and support to fellow women teachers through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG).
Ray was born on July 13, 1888, in Pilot Point, Texas. She was the third child of Joseph and Anna King. As a young girl, Ray attended Pilot Point High School. After her graduation, she enrolled in North Texas State Normal School in Denton, Texas. While there, Ray met Annie Webb Blanton, and the two formed a lasting friendship.
In addition to her courses at North Texas, Ray completed summer school classes at the University of Colorado, Texas Christian University, and the University of California in Berkeley, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree. Because of her impressive scholastic achievements, she was inducted into two honor societies: Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Kappa Alpha. For the next four summers, the young co-ed worked on her Master’s degree at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City.
Ray inaugurated her career as an educator in Gordon, Texas. After teaching there for one year, she moved to Mineral Wells. The next year, Ray accepted a job in Fort Worth. In Fort Worth Ray initially taught fifth and sixth grades. Later she took a position teaching history to junior high school students. When Central High School was enlarged, she taught history there.
Ray loved to travel. She toured all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Along the way she collected a wealth of information which she used to enrich the history classes she taught. Her colleagues respected her so much that she became the Chairperson of the History Department at her school, a position she held until her retirement in 1954.
When Ray, her long-time friend from college, Annie Webb Blanton, and their colleagues founded the Delta Kappa Gamma Society (DKG) in 1929, Ray was elected their treasurer. In this role, she managed expenditures and receipts at both the state and national levels of the organization. She also threw herself into the expansion of the Society. Together with her sister Sue, Ray established the Delta Chapter in Fort Worth on October 29, 1929. They also founded the Beta Phi Chapter in Tarrant County, Texas, in February, 1936.
In addition to this work, Ray participated in many of the organization’s national committees, including the Permanent Fund (1930-1933), Auditing (1931-1934), Achievement Award (1932-1935), Initiation (1930-1933), Legislation (1936-1938), and Equal Opportunities for Women Teachers (1938-1942). During the 1954-1956 biennium, this chalkboard champion represented DKG’s founders on the Administrative Board.
Ray was also active in many of her community’s professional and civic organizations. Among these were the American Association of University Women, the Retired Teachers Association, the Women’s Club, the Fort Worth Civic Music Association, and the Symphony Orchestra. She also nurtured many creative hobbies, including needlepoint, hooking rugs, and cooking.
Ray King passed away on January 24, 1979, in Fort Worth. She is interred at Pilot Point Community Cemetery in Denton County, Texas.
To learn more about the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, click on this link: DKG.