Niece Attends Funeral Of Woman Thought To Have No Family

DENTON, TX — A woman who died in September 2017 was interred Wednesday, nine months after a search for her family began.

Margaret Rosa King, 67, was found unresponsive near her car in a parking lot on University of North Texas' campus, where she both worked and studied. She was taken to Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Denton and later pronounced dead.

The medical examiner determined her cause of death was heart disease. But few other answers about her life would ever surface.

Her coworkers at UNT's Facility Services, campus police and the coroner set to work finding her relatives. Eventually the university turned to social media and local news outlets for help.

King began working for UNT Facilities in June 2016, the university said in a press release. At the time of her death, she was studying for a graduate degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Before coming to UNT, King earned an associate's degree in business from Tidewater Community College in Virginia, a bachelor's degree in business from Saint Leo University in Florida, a master's degree in gerontology from Norfolk State University in Virginia, an associate's degree in accounting and information technology from Tarrant County Community College and a master's degree in information science from UNT, the university said.

A lifelong academic, King was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1950 and graduated from Washington Irving High School, the Dallas Morning News reported. She served in the Air Force from 1971 to 1974 before going to work for the Department of Defense in Virginia. In 1997, she began working Lockheed Martin. She retired in 2003.

King's photo spread quickly across social media as the search for her kinfolk continued. Despite news coverage on both local and national levels, no leads turned up.

King's coworkers at UNT Facility Services arranged a funeral for her, and she was interred at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. A veteran of the Air Force, King's remains were escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders.

The funeral brought a large crowd, many of whom were locals who never knew King. Among the crowd sat an unexpected mourner, King's niece, who told The Dallas Morning News her family had not spoken with King in decades.

“We’ve been looking for her for years,” Cherrie Robinson told the newspaper. “To come across this story just in time to make it here for the services is just amazing.”

Robinson said she saw the photo of her aunt on Facebook the day before the funeral and booked a last-minute flight from Atlanta to Dallas.

“I never wanted to find her in death,” she said, “but I’m glad at least I can see how many people care.”

Another of King's living relatives, Robinson's mother and King's half sister, could not make the funeral in time, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The woman, who lives in Sun City, California, was reportedly en route to the funeral with King's birth certificate in hand as the service came to completion.

King shared so few personal details during her life that even her supervisor of more than a year knew only that she loved to learn and talk about God.

“She said she just loved to learn. She wrote that down as a hobby on her job application,” David Barkenhagen, King's supervisor, told The News.

King's funeral ended with a three-volley rifle salute. The casings and King's folded flag were handed over to Robinson, a weeping woman lamenting years lost.

Image via University of North Texas, used with permission