By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — When the flash fire ignited, tile installer Jesse King pushed his son and helper Jacob out of the way.
As a result, Jesse James King, 47, died Tuesday from severe burns that covered 90 percent of his body after the fire Monday at a Marysville-area home. The father and son were installing floor tile in a bathroom when a gas water heater’s pilot light ignited flammable fumes.
Jacob "Jake" King, 20, suffered burns over 10 percent of his body.
"He watched his dad burn alive," said Penny Stearns, mother of Jake King’s fiance. "He blames himself, and it’s not his fault."
Jake King has been released from Harborview Medical Center’s burn unit, but will be unable to work for some time, Stearns said. He suffered burns on his arms, chest and the backs of his legs and will need skin grafts in the future, she said.
"He’s doing as well as can be expected. He won’t be able to work for some time, and he won’t be able to hold the baby because his arms are so badly burned," she said.
Jake King and Stearns’ daughter, Tristin McFarlane, have a 7-month-old child and plan to wed in June.
Jesse King’s wife of 32 years, Patty King, described him as a great guy.
"There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for anybody to help them. If he went out to do a job, he wouldn’t leave the job until he liked it himself. He loved doing floor coverings. He was a great father and a great husband," she said.
Jesse King was a recovering alcoholic who gave up drinking 22 years ago and worked for everything he had, she said. He’d been in business for more than 20 years, she said.
He had tutored two other sons in the trade, and they now work on their own, she said. Jake King was the third son to work with his father, and eventually also would have worked on his own, too, she said.
"Jess wasn’t just a father, he was a best friend to his boys," Patty King said.
He loved to make model cars and collected Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. Recently he had begun collecting die-cast muscle cars.
He will be cremated, and Patty King wants to bury him beside a daughter who died as a baby in 1977.
Jesse King worked for Unique Interiors in Arlington and employed Jake Kind to help him. Jesse King was covered by medical insurance, as well as state Labor and Industries coverage, said Marilyn Bullock, the company’s corporate secretary and bookkeeper. Jacob King had medical coverage only as a dependent, and that will end this month, she said.
Jesse King had worked for the company for more than 13 years.
Stearns set up a bank account for donations, and also asked two Marysville businesses to accept donations for the King family.
"It’s a very sad time for everybody," Stearns said. "Everybody is kind of really in shock. Any day is bad, but the holidays are a really, really bad time to lose somebody that you love."
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
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