NOVEMBER 2016 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
“ I made a practice of learning which of my clients had profitable businesses and frequently formed similar businesses , such as land development , oil and gas development and production , mica mining , military equipment manufacturing , banking and trust management ,” King said .
Another primary area of specialization for King was loan mortgages . “ Due to my past involvement in the banking and pension management business , several of the officers at banks in my area would refer people to me that failed to qualify with their banks for loans to see if I could arrange a loan for their customers through my profit sharing plan or pension plans that I assisted in managing their investments . As a result , I often borrowed money from banks to make mortgage loans and had several millions invested in such loans .”
By 1980 his business investments were doing so well that a 49-year-old King decided to cease active practice of the law and concentrate on his commercial business activities , and perhaps have a little more free time . But nine years later he returned to the law .
“ In the spring of 1989 , even though [ my son ] Phil , 29 , was the youngest captain the Fort Worth Police ever had , I convinced him that he could succeed better in life as an attorney , so he resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and enrolled in law school ,” King explained . “ For the purpose of assisting him commencing a law practice when he got licensed as an attorney , I commenced practicing law again planning on it to just be on a parttime basis for a temporary period of time . The temporary part-time method didn ’ t work .”
( Of course , Phil King is now state representative for the 61st District of Texas , which includes Parker and Wise counties .)
The elder King opened a law
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office at the Security Self Storage property he owned and worked out of there until he sold it in 1990 . Until his son became licensed in 1994 , King worked out of his home . He then built the King Law Office complex located on Fort Worth Highway near the Malt Shop on property that he now refers to as the “ King Compound .”
During King ’ s nine-year hiatus from the law he ’ d labored on the compound property , a 300-acre tract between I-20 and U . S . Highway 180 , clearing trees and brush . His original design for the property was development of a guarded-gate community with a golf driving range ,
horse riding range , tennis court and fishing lake . At just 25 miles from the hum of Cowtown , King believed the high-class residential addition would attract well-to-do businesspeople looking to establish a residence away from the Metroplex .
“ However , about 1980 , our country ’ s economy suffered a severe recession causing several banks and other businesses to close ,” King said . “ Thus , it appeared that my plan wouldn ’ t work at that time , so I decided to change my plans and develop that property as a home site for us ( he and his wife Barbara ) and our children ’ s families .” The change of plans worked out , as King enjoys compound life . “ The great thing about living on the King Compound is that three of our children also live there and we have had the privilege of being close around their kids as they matured ,” he said . “… We really love our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren . If we had known how much fun they were to be around , we would have wanted to have them before we had our children !”
But family bliss was not always the norm for King ; his first marriage unraveled under the devastating effects of Huntington ’ s disease . In the early 1970s he met second wife Barbara Bennett at church .
“ She was also involved in a divorce and one of our mutual friends at that church asked me to represent her in that divorce ,” King recalled . “ I met with her and we immediately fell in love with each other . After the fourth date on the fourth successive night , we decided to get married , but waited until April 1 , 1972 , then got married at my home in White Lake Hills and commenced raising my three and her two kids . ( Phillip , Douglas , Donna , DiAnn and Michael )…”
From childhood King has been interested in politics , even harboring a “ secret desire ” to become President of the United States . After settling in the early 1960s in Tarrant County to practice law , he became active in the Republican Party , assisting in the formation of and serving as first president of an eastside Republican club . In 1961 he and others put together a team of Republican candidates who ran for state or federal elected office for 1962 . King himself filed for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives held by veteran legislator Skeet Richardson .
“ None of us got elected , but we did create a good enough party orga-