Yvonne (King) Lackey

With deep sadness we announce the death of former Wolfeboro, NH resident Yvonne (King) Lackey, 93, on April 14, 2025, while residing in Laconia, NH, at the Taylor Ledgeview Nursing Home

She was the second child of Brigadier General Theodore Trower King and Anna Marie (Smedley) King, born September 25, 1931, in North Little Rock, AR. She was preceded in death by both parents, her older brother, Ted King and her husband of nearly 70 years, Marcus Hughes Lackey. She  is survived by her sister, Glenda Lynn (King) Churchill, her sister in-law, Roberta King, Yvonne’s three children and their spouses as well as six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: son, Marcus Hughes Lackey, Jr. and his wife Jennifer Lea Krahenbill of Franklin, TN, son Jeffrey King Lackey and wife Cynthia (Hawes) Lackey of Austin, TX, their four children; Kendall Ann (Lackey) Clites, husband Tyler Roy Clites and their two children Ezekiel Patrick Clites and Charlotte Hypatia Clites, Johnathan Taylor Lackey and wife Ashlee (Brown) Lackey, Jocelyn Gail (Lackey) Monroe and husband Hayden Monroe, Monica Elaine Lackey, daughter Anne Marie (Lackey) Allwine and husband David Allen Allwine, their two children Dylan Marcus Allwine and wife Alexis Daggett, Dawson Alexander Allwine.

 As part of a military family Yvonne traveled extensively, living on army bases and going to 12 different schools before graduating from high school in Munich, Germany after WWII. Never truly having a hometown, she often said that the place most like home was Fort Knox.

Yvonne entered the University of Kentucky in 1949 where she majored in Psychology. She was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority when her sorority sister’s boyfriend introduced her on a blind date to the boyfriend’s younger brother, Marcus Lackey. They married on October 21, 1952. She lived in California while he was deployed with the US Army in Korea then traveled as his work took them to Delaware, Texas, Iowa, and Virginia, ultimately settling in Circleville, Ohio where they lived for 40 years. There, Yvonne was active in many organizations including the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, The Explorer Scouts, the Garden Club, The Bridge Club, The American Association of University Woman, the gift shop of Berger Hospital, The Roundtown Players, The High Fever Follies Charity, Hospice charity, Pickaway Country Club, the Methodist Church, The Red Hat Club, and the Circleville Pumpkin Show.  She worked at the local Mental Health Center as a Social Worker helping to transition patients back into their communities during the mental hospital deinstitutionalization movement. She was also politically active and always a staunch proponent of social justice.     

Yvonne and her husband moved to the Sugar Hill Community in Wolfeboro, NH in 2007 to be closer to daughter Anne Marie Allwine and her family. While in Wolfeboro, she was active in the Newcomers Club, co-chairing the activities committee and participating in the dinner group. She was also active in Wolfeboro Garden Club, the Wolfeboro Library Book Club as well as book clubs with Newcomers Club and the First Congregational Church of Wolfeboro.  She regularly volunteered as a docent with the Wright Museum and Castle in the Clouds. She also helped support Families In Transition in starting Hope House.

Yvonne was well known to always be fashionably dressed, head to toe, with a matching hat and accessories. She even started wearing colorful temporary tattoos to complete her look. She also loved to decorate for the seasons and holidays, both in her home, her nursing home room, and always for her walker. Yvonne was known for her adventurous spirit due to her multiple trips in hot air balloons, or parasailing, once going up 1500 feet for her 85th birthday, or ziplining for her 90th birthday. She swam with sting rays and loved to pet snakes. She epitomized the phrase, “living life to its fullest.”

Yvonne’s remains will be interred in the niche with her husband at New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, Boscawen, on June 20, 2025. A Memorial Service will follow on June 21, 2025, at 2:30pm at the First Congregational Church, Wolfeboro, NH with a Celebration of Life Reception to follow in the church Fellowship Hall.

Donations may be made to memorialize Yvonne Lackey with a piece of uplifting artwork welcoming all to her “Happy Place”, the First Congregational Church Wolfeboro, P.O. Box 913, Wolfeboro, NH 03894 (make note that it is in memory of Yvonne Lackey). Any surplus funds will go towards the development there of a community emergency shelter.

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