Ryan King

Ryan Paul King, age 42, of Winona, passed away peacefully in the comfort of his home on Sunday, May 29, 2022, following an 8-month battle with cancer.

If there’s one word to describe Ryan King, I would have to say extraordinary. As Ayanna would say, he was so “EXTRA”. Ryan was an “EXTRA” amazing husband, dad, son, brother, and friend. He made an impact on everyone who crossed his path whether he was related to you, went to school with you, played hockey with you, worked with you or for you, or you were just lucky enough to be his friend. I bet you all have your own Ryan King stories. I know I have mine, our children have theirs, and may we all cherish those memories forever.

Ryan Paul King was born May 14, 1980, in La Crosse, WI, to Richard and Rebecca King and to his ever so doting big sister Pandy (DD as Ryan called her).

Ryan’s childhood was filled with mischief and mayhem. He found his passion for hockey early on, learning to skate at the mere age of 2. Growing up he mastered Ping-Pong at the West End Rec and spent lots of time roller blading. Ryan was also a first place State Diver in the 8th grade. He loved fishing and riding his bike to get grilled cheeses from Jackson Street Café.

Ryan attended Cotter Schools (class of 1998) before a slight detour to fatherhood and eventually graduating from Winona Senior High School in 1999. He also graduated with honors from MSCST with an associate degree in accounting.

Ryan met the love of his life, Jamie Gay on January 2nd 1998, starting an adventure of a life time! They were later united in marriage on October 23rd 2004. They welcomed two beautiful children into this world, Matthew Paul and Ayanna Leigh. They were later granted the love and life of Harmony Journey through God’s plan and adoption.

Ryan loved his family with everything he had and worked so hard to provide a good life for them, sometimes working several jobs at once. Throughout his work career, he had a few jobs he just really loved which includes Rocco’s Pizza—pizza connoisseur, Winona Aggregate—best scale operator ever, Bay State Milling—scheduling master, a short time at Betty Jo’s —which totally fit his personality, and lastly QDoba—where he was the general manager and he got to live out his dream of opening and running a restaurant.

Ryan loved hockey and taught his kids, as well as many others, how to skate. He shared his love of the game through coaching and refereeing.

Ryan was such an amazing dad and shared his kid’s passions by supporting them in everything they did and by volunteering his time to help support them, whether it was coaching them in hockey, skating with them in ice shows, setting up gymnastics equipment for meets, going on band trips, scoring at diving meets, or buying canvasses and paints.

Ryan lived on the edge and loved to travel, last minute planning was his specialty. He loved Monopoly and shoes (OMG, THE SHOES!!!!). He also loved cats, fast motorcycles, and spending time on the river. His friends, as much as he loved his family, Ryan was so “EXTRA” social and he loved his friends!

Ryan is lovingly survived by his wife, Jamie; children: Matthew Paul, Ayanna Leigh, and Harmony Journey; his parents: Rick King and Becky (Bob) King-Oium; sister: Pandy “DD” King; mother-in-law: Terry (Rick) Panek; father-in-law: Greg (Melissa) Gay; in-laws: Laura (Shawn) Brevig, Kyle (Amber) Gay, Mike Gay, Jeff Gay, Anna (Cameron) Ender, and Joel Gay; grandparents-in-law: Keith and Madonna Busse and Gloria Gay; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives and many friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents: Bill and Dodie King, and Bob and Bette Leffert.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at noon on Saturday, June 4, 2022, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Winona.  The Reverend Michael Cronin will officiate.  Ryan will be laid to rest in St. Mary’s Cemetery.  Visitation will be held from 4 PM until 8 PM on Friday, June 3, 2022, at the Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home, 376 E. Sarnia Street, Winona.  There will not be any visitation held on Saturday, please meet at the church for Mass.  Those attending the visitation and funeral are encouraged to dress casually and to wear their “Team King” shirts.

Honorary pallbearers will be: Jaremy Volkman, Mike Kappmeyer, Keegan Hakala, and Nick Klunder.

Online condolences or memories may be left for Ryan’s family at www.watkowski-mulyck.com.