Kingsbury Worked for Bureau of Indian Affairs
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Kingsbury Worked for Bureau of Indian Affairs

Roger Atkinson Kingsbury III, 75, who worked for the Federal Government in the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, as an Indian development analyst for the Indian Business Development Programs died in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Friday, Jan. 13.

Mr. Kingsbury was born in Baltimore, Md. on June 5, 1931 and was educated at Alice Deal Junior High and St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. He lived in Vienna from 1965 to 1984.

On Feb. 5, 1946, Mr. Kingsbury scored 66 points for Alice Deal Junior High in a 120-22 victory, and this was the all-time district scoring record at the time.

In 1950, Mr. Kingsbury received the St. Albans Rice Award for best all-around athlete. While at St. Albans, Mr. Kingsbury was involved in athletics and was class treasurer and cathedral server.

Mr. Kingsbury was the captain of the basketball team and scored over 2,000 points in his four years at St. Albans. He was awarded a total of eight gold basketballs, footballs and baseballs for his achievements.

He was the winner of nine major letters, district high-scorer in basketball for three consecutive years, all-prep in football and basketball and all-metropolitan in basketball.

On March 18, 1950 he was selected to play in the all-high all-prep basketball game and was coached by the legendary St. John's Joe Gallagher.

Mr. Kingsburychose to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a basketball scholarship. He was a member of the UNC Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and the UNC Chapel Hill Alumni Association. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1956 and earned a master's degree in public administration from George Washington University in 1967.

On Aug. 3, 1973 Mr. Kingsbury was flying for the Bureau of Indian Affairs over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska on an assignment dealing with the Alaska Native Claims Act. There was a malfunction in the plane and it crashed. Mr. Kingsbury was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down and was in a semi-conscious state. As a result, Mr. Kingsbury was unable to actively coach as he had been doing for 25 years. Mr. Kingsbury sponsored the Vienna Little League "A" Nats and had named them after the Aleuts in Alaska. The Aleuts went on to win the "A" championship in 1974.

Mr. Kingsbury was in the United States Marine Corps from March 1952 to Jan. 1956. He was honored in the Marine Corps, and in 2004 he received the Korean Defense Service Medal by Congressman Henry Brown of South Carolina.

Mr. Kingsbury was active in local youth athletics in many roles. He was vice president of ways and means for Vienna Youth Inc. He was instrumental in forming the first girl's basketball league in Vienna in 1972 and served as coach and commissioner in the league. He coached the Vienna Babe Ruth League Sports and all-star teams, the Vienna Little League Knicks and the Fantastic Featherfoots during the late '60s through mid-'70s.

Mr. Kingsbury was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 10420, a 32 degree mason in the Scottish Rite of Free Masonry in Alexandria, master mason at the Concord Lodge No. 307 in Vienna, past member of American Legion Post No. 180 and Noble member of the Kena Temple Shriners of Fairfax.

Mr. Kingsbury was very committed to assisting the youth sports programs in the area and also provided service to those less fortunate, especially children, through the efforts of each of these organizations. Mr. Kingsbury had an unbelievable plethora of knowledge which he avidly shared with others with his keen wit and engaging humor.

Beloved son of the late Margaret Hammond Stansbury Kingsbury and beloved nephew of Walter Anderson Stansbury. He is survived by his son Roger Atkinson Kingsbury IV of Oakton and daughter Susan Margaret Clark of Fairfax Station, ex-wife Betty Ann Kingsbury, grandchildren Christopher Clark and Shannon Clark, his special caregivers Damon Griffy and Yeook Kim and many devoted friends and relatives.