Eleanor King loved to cook and serve

Before I left, a waitress came to my table, informing me that the meal was taken care of.

A savvy businesswoman, Eleanor King was a philanthropist who used her business to host non-profit fundraisers and help those in need.

The day after my encounter with Eleanor, I heard that she had taken a bad fall at her home. She died a week later.

A few days after I attended Kathy’s funeral, I went to hers. 

As I drive by an empty King’s Diner I’m reminded of Eleanor’s delicious sourdough pancakes, her rallying of employees when it got busy, and her friendly greeting to customers who also were her friends.

Recognizing that Sunday is Mother’s Day, it must be noted that Eleanor was dearly loved as a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She lost her own mother — Luba Wallin — when she was 5 years old. 

Eleanor grew up in Chignik. 

Her grandparents, Ivar and Clara Wallin, took in Eleanor and her younger brother, Charlie. They also raised nine of their own children.

Clara and her grandchildren moved to Kodiak in September 1958. After Eleanor’s grandfather died, her dad, Ivar, Sr., soon joined his mother and children.

“We never went back,” Eleanor said. “We loved it here (in Kodiak.) We loved the fact that when winter came, we didn’t have to carry water and roll oil drums.”

In 1962, Eleanor married Robert (Robbie) A. King, grandson of Orthodox priest Father Cecil King. 

Now that she had her own home, Eleanor took care of her grandmother who had raised her. She planned many birthday parties for her.

I met Eleanor as she prepared a party for Clara’s 85th birthday.

When complimented on her ability to put on a good spread of food, Eleanor responded: “I always cook big.”

Eleanor hadn’t gone into business yet, but she took on jobs and responsibilities that prepared her for a long career in restaurant management.

One of her first Kodiak jobs was working for Tom and Mary Gallagher, who owned the Polar Bear Café.

 “Ninety percent of my restaurant experience came from Tom and Mary. I hope that I can pass on what I learned from them,” Eleanor said.

Working for the Gallaghers “was a wonderful experience,” she said. “They were just like parents to me.”

Eleanor also cooked for the Kodiak Island Borough School District.

A new culinary adventure awaited her one day when she went to the restaurant that was located upstairs in the old Markair terminal. Manager Sid Urie was just having a terrible time, Eleanor said. “He couldn’t get a cook.” 

“Please, come in and help me,’” he pleaded.

“I told him, ‘Sid, I’ve never cooked on a flat grill like this. At the Polar Bear we had frying pans.”

“‘I’ll show you,’” he said. “‘Please come in and help.’”

Eventually, Eleanor leased the restaurant under the banner of King’s Diner. When the lease ran out she worked as a breakfast cook for the Mecca.

Soon Eleanor opened her own restaurant, King’s Diner.

I recall having breakfast there one morning with my friend, Leonard Helgason (Oh, how he loved Eleanor’s sourdoughs.) It was a busy shift. Next to our table sat a couple of brazen off-island sports fishermen who impatiently waited for a waitress to serve them. Finally, one of the fishermen whistled for attention. In a moment, Eleanor was at the table, chiding him for acting rudely. “My waitresses aren’t cattle,” she said.

King’s Diner became more centrally located when the Kings moved into the building on Mill Bay Road.

The restaurant was a gathering place for fishermen, construction workers, retired people, Coast Guardsmen and many others representing Kodiak’s diverse professions and cultures. 

 In 2020, at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, Eleanor was given a small business award for improving opportunities for Alaska Natives, which have comprised a large part of her work force.

Eleanor fiercely stood up for her help, and that fidelity is what endeared, said long time waitress, Joy (Frost) Parker. “She was good to everybody,” said Joy, agreeing that Eleanor was worthy of the AFN honor.

Joy noted that Eleanor used her business to support community fundraisers, such as the Kodiak Christian School, Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral (of which she is a member,) and other entities.

Eleanor said she was “self taught” for the most part, but credited her father, Ivar Wallin Sr., for helping her excel in her profession. Ivar cooked at the Senior Center and local restaurants for many years.

Eleanor’s interests went far beyond the kitchen.

“Most of us knew (Eleanor) as she and her crew fed the community day in and day out,” noted Fr. Innocent Drewsdow of Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral.

“One gift she gave the Kodiak community years ago is not widely known: advocating for her daughter, Teresa, (and others like her), who were born with Down’s Syndrome. “In those days there were no special services in the schools or community for persons with special needs.

“Eleanor’s advocacy and volunteer efforts led the way for those services to be established locally,” Dresdow said.

“This summer I will especially miss going to the Diner early in the morning before a day of subsistence fishing to raid the ice machine,” said Dresdow.

“I would enter the back door and would find Eleanor prepping the basic ingredients to feed the community that day. She’d cheerfully greet me and say, ‘Take as much ice as you need. Father, we’ve got plenty. But you better bring me a fresh red.’”

“I will miss hearing those words with my ears this summer, but I’m thankful that I will hear them in my heart with each passing day, especially when the gillnet hits the water and deep calls to deep. May her memory be eternal.

“Eleanor exemplified a servant’s heart through her tireless serving of others,” noted Dresdow.

She was preceded in death by her husband, son, Rob, and daughter, Teresa Marie.