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The name we remember from The King Family TV show live from Hollywood in the Sixties was that swinging exotica hipster Alvino Rey, who invented a talking guitar and married into the family via one of the four Mormon blonde singing sisters at the center of the series (we'd assumed he was Latino, but he was born McBurney). The family marked the 45th anniversary of their ABC television debut this year with the launch of the retro cool King Family Official Website and, as we might have expected, is wrapping the year with a visit from the 2009 Celebrity Reaper and the death this week of Yvonne, the last of the singing King Sisters, at 90. The site includes a touching family tribute that includes a vivid and moving description of the family reunion that took place at her deathbed:
"During a weekend visit with the family... our Mom tripped and fell and had to be hospitalized. We were told that her condition was not good and that we should be prepared.
"On Sunday afternoon we decorated her room with pictures of her life-- had King Sisters music playing-- she made Tina promise she would never let her go without her make-up, so family friend Heather and Tina did her make-up and hair-- we put a blue silk nightgown on her and covered her with her elegant fun fur coat and asked as many family memebers and good friends who could make it, to come to the hospital around 2:00 PM.
"She was surrounded by 16 loved ones, including her sister Marilyn, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends. We sang Christmas Carols, 'Side By Side,' (with the King Family hand jive), 'Nighty-Night' (including all of us doing the soft shoe around her bed), and finally 'Love at Home.' We then said a family prayer and one by one, we told her what she meant to us and let her know it was okay to go, And she did just that."
Alvino died in 2004.
"During a weekend visit with the family... our Mom tripped and fell and had to be hospitalized. We were told that her condition was not good and that we should be prepared.
"On Sunday afternoon we decorated her room with pictures of her life-- had King Sisters music playing-- she made Tina promise she would never let her go without her make-up, so family friend Heather and Tina did her make-up and hair-- we put a blue silk nightgown on her and covered her with her elegant fun fur coat and asked as many family memebers and good friends who could make it, to come to the hospital around 2:00 PM.
"She was surrounded by 16 loved ones, including her sister Marilyn, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends. We sang Christmas Carols, 'Side By Side,' (with the King Family hand jive), 'Nighty-Night' (including all of us doing the soft shoe around her bed), and finally 'Love at Home.' We then said a family prayer and one by one, we told her what she meant to us and let her know it was okay to go, And she did just that."
Alvino died in 2004.
Click the picture to enlarge and read the letter on The King Family Official Website.
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