Donna (Miller) King along with her husband Robert King, have been chosen as the Checotah High School Significant Alumni for 2024. Both graduates of the Class of 1974, Donna and Robert, never dated while they were in school, even though Robert claims to have had a crush on Donna their freshman year.
“He said he had a crush on me when I was a freshman and I said, ‘Well, I never knew it,’ and he said ‘Well, I never told you,’ “ Donna said as she giggled.
After high school Donna had moved to California from 1975 to 1978 where her dad was living but she returned to Oklahoma and fate would have it that Robert was still interested.
“My parents divorced when I was 14, but we were originally from here and I went to Central High School. My Grandpa Cecil Miller worked at the Ice House every summer ever since I could remember, probably 30 years or more. Then in the winter he was the janitor at Central High School and my Grandma Miller was a teacher there until she had to get a degree. She couldn’t afford to go to school, so she became the cook and she was there until they closed the school in 1969.
While I was in school I was in choir and basketball but I had to quit basketball when I was in seventh grade to go to work. I couldn’t just play games anymore. So I started babysitting in Moore when I was twelve and I’ve worked ever since. I worked at McKnight’s and I worked at the Cozy Grill. Then in high school I worked at Midway Truck Stop and they would come and pick me up from school the days I had to work and then take me home.”
Robert, however, had always lived in Checotah and worked around the area.
“Robert was in the band at school and played the trumpet but he didn’t really sing. But when I came back from California, he was working at the Dairy Queen for his mama and I liked to drag main. So one night after I washed my car, I went by there and he was hanging out the window hollering at me saying ‘Come over here. I wanna ask you something. So I pulled over and we started talking and he finally asked me out. I guess we are doing pretty well because we just celebrated our 42nd anniversary the other day. He’s a good husband, father to our boys and a hard worker too. He worked at ACME Engineering for 29 years. Then he worked at Spirit Aerosystems in McAlester for about 15 years. Now he drives for Checotah Schools and takes a student to his classes.”
Donna admitted that when they had their two boys, Robbie and Preston, she didn’t want them to have to work and try to go to school like she had to do as a child. However, Preston wanted his own money and started working at Chaney’s during his sophomore year delivering pizzas.
“Both my boys are grown now and went on to be coaches/teachers, and I’m so proud of them. Robbie is married and Preston is still single, and we don’t have any grandchildren yet but hopefully they are working on it.”
Donna is one of six siblings, all still living, and so her great nieces and nephews keep Robert and her busy at ballgames and other family gatherings.
“We have always had lots of family on both sides. My whole family could sing and some played instruments, so I grew up singing. In school, Randy Slinkard was my chorus teacher. However, it was my grandparents that took us to the country social every weekend that made us fall in love with singing. My older sister and I would sing almost every time we could.
“We sang where the community center is now. It was a big old church back then and in the winter they’d have that big ol’ potbelly stove going and you would get as close to it as you could to stay warm. It was the place to be back then. Lots of people came to play there from all over. Even Vince Gill played there one time.
“I always sang ‘Snowbird’ and some of the guys even started calling me that. Years later when we opened up the Katy Restaurant one of them came in and said ‘Hey Snowbird!’ For a moment it took me back to that time. Now I mainly sing the National Anthem for some local events.
“Robert also came from a large family. There were five siblings along with his parents, Obid and June King, who also had businesses in Checotah, including June’s which is still run by family today. All Robert’s siblings are also still living.”
“I’ve worked several places over the years from the Dairy Queen with June a couple years to Peoples National Bank for 17 years. Finally I decided to go back to school, get my cosmetology license and go to work for myself. So at 41 years old, that’s what I did and now I’ve owned and operated Star Glitz & Glitter for 23 years.
Besides the beauty shop, the Kings also own the Katy Restaurant.
“We worked the Katy for a while here but we are the proudest of raising our boys as Wildcats and them becoming football coaches, one in the Checotah School District for ten years. Coming from a family who worked in the school district, we understand how important it is to have good staff.
“When I was in school, Mrs. Betty Barrett was my favorite teacher, along with Betty Working. But Mrs. Barrett knew why I always had to stay home to take care of my mom because of her physical ailments and the abuse she suffered. Mrs. Barrett was the only one I would talk to and she helped me to keep up with a ‘C average’ in my classes. I almost didn’t get my diploma because the principal didn’t understand why I was absent so much and why I had to take care of my little sister while my older sister worked to put food on our table. But the principal finally gave me my diploma and told me ‘I had earned it’ which I knew Mrs. Barrett had to have told him about what was really going on.
“I’m so thankful today to have come this far, and as Robert and I are recognized I want to say ‘Thank you to those people who made a difference in our lives.’ I’m grateful for good teachers who are still making a difference in students’ lives, like they did in mine and Robert years ago. This is why we will always love Checotah.”
