By the time you receive this magazine, the University will have said goodbye to one of its most devoted staff members and loyal Deacs.
Senior Editor Kerry M. King (’85) of Wake Forest Magazine retired on June 2 after working 35 years and 11 months in various communications roles at Wake Forest.
After seeing his brother, Kevin P. King (’80), have a good experience, Kerry applied early decision to Wake Forest when he was a high school student in Sanford, North Carolina. He found his place early on as a writer and a leader at the Old Gold & Black, becoming editor in chief his senior year. After graduation, Kerry worked at the local newspaper in Asheboro, North Carolina, and then as program director at the chamber of commerce in Laurinburg, North Carolina — as Kerry says, “good Wake Forest towns back then.”
A return visit to campus in 1989 brought new opportunities. On a bulletin board outside the treasurer’s office was a job advertisement for a capital campaign staff writer. Kerry got the job, and Wake Forest raised $173 million in the Heritage and Promise capital campaign. Coincidence? I smile and think probably not.
“That’s really all I wanted to do after the Old Gold & Black was to come back to Wake Forest and write about Wake Forest,” he says.
Through the decades, Kerry did just that. He wrote campaign communications and eventually news service releases, admissions materials, alumni publications, magazine stories and assignments for the president’s office and Commencement. In 2004, the University named him the employee of the year. In that decade, King was both the associate editor of Wake Forest Magazine and associate director of Creative Services. In the summer of 2011, he rejoined a revamped Wake Forest Magazine.
I’m especially grateful to the literally hundreds of alumni I’ve met the last three decades who have let me tell their stories.”
From the time we began working together in 2011, I can attest to
Kerry’s myriad, valuable contributions to the magazine and his can-do, professional attitude. Kerry brought a love of history and the ability to recall University milestones and provide context for his teammates. He quickly gathered a following for his Friday social media posts that commemorated University historic moments, serious and funny and sometimes just quirky, a la the prank that landed a picture of Mickey Mouse on the face of Wait Chapel’s clock in the ’70s.
He took special care in crafting obituaries for faculty members. “Most of them were giants who built Wake Forest in the last 30 to 40 years, and it’s important to remember them in the right light,” he says.
Kerry relished meeting and writing about Wake Foresters who exemplify Pro Humanitate and show a love for their alma mater. His favorite stories? Here are a couple. Syd Kitson’s (’81, P ’08) dream come true of building a “Town for the Future” focused on sustainability and community in South Florida. Botanist Frank Telewski (Ph.D. ’83), who became a keeper of secrets for one of the world’s oldest scientific experiments involving seeds. (Kerry’s story won silver in the international competition for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.)
Kerry was part of our team that won the award for the best university magazine in the CASE international competition in 2019 and multiple awards for our team’s writing and overall magazine issues since 2011. He will be missed for his talent, his collegiality and his loyalty to his alma mater.
“I hope my love for Wake Forest has come through in my stories,” Kerry says, and I can assure you it has.
Look for Kerry around Winston-Salem with his wife, Heather Barnes King (MA ’97), whom he met one day in Reynolda Hall and married in 2000. May his retirement bring happy days and Wake Forest football wins. The Kings will be in the stands cheering, or you might spot them walking around the neighborhood with their two Shetland Sheepdogs, “the boys.”
— Maria Henson (’82)
