David Martin King was born May 1, 1969, in Morristown, N.J. He died Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022, in Spokane. His mother, Annie Francis King, named David after Martin Luther King Jr. She was a strong Christian who raised David and stepbrother Joey in the Baptist Church.
David attended Morristown High School, graduating in 1989. While still in high school, he was recruited by the U.S. Army, later completing Army Ranger training in Georgia. For three years, he served in covert reconnaissance.
After military service, he attended commercial truck driver training in Netcong, N.J., and earned his commercial driver’s license for heavy haul tractor trailers. David drove coast-to-coast until he was recruited in 2001 to work at the 9/11 twin towers site (ground zero). He worked there approximately six months removing debris from the site until ground zero was clean. He then resumed his heavy haul tractor trailer driving.
David married in 2002, and had one daughter, Lillian Elizabeth King, in 2003. He divorced a year later and moved to California where he attended classes to earn a plumbing degree. He worked with the Los Angeles County Plumbing Union Local 78 doing earthquake retro-fit plumbing in Los Angeles schools.
David moved to southern Idaho and continued to work as a plumber. Then he was diagnosed with renal (kidney) failure. He moved to Moscow in 2014 to seek a kidney transplant. He applied three times, but due to various complications, was unable to get on the donor list.
During his time in Moscow, he worked as a traffic control flagger and supervisor, while at the same time undergoing dialysis three times a week. In 2018, he started his own pilot car company named K-9 Pilot Cars.
Due to the progression of kidney failure, he was forced to cut back on work. In December 2022, he fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury, passing away Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Although David was never able to receive a donated kidney, he was able to donate organs to three people. If you knew David, you know he always wanted to help others.
David is survived by his daughter, Lillian Elizabeth Gilbert-King; stepfather, Joseph King; stepbrother, Joey King; and long-time family friend Jane Cox.
There will be a memorial service from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Real Life Church, 1428 S. Blaine St., Moscow. David attended Real Life since 2014, where you would see him greeting people at the front doors or talking with people in the lobby. It was a long, heavy haul for David during his illness, and he did it with grace and dignity. He will be missed.
