Courtney T King

Court Trenise King was brought into this world on August 8, 1985 in Providence, Rhode Island. She described her life’s work as “keeping Black and brown kids soft in a hard world,” and was known to many as the playful, hilarious, and thoughtful adult that children could lean on. 

In her youth, she attended Community Preparatory School and Classical High School, gaining a reputation for her wit and all-teeth smiles. She went on to graduate from the University of Rhode Island, where she studied Political Science and spent a semester abroad in England. In 2022, she earned a Master’s in Youth Development from Rhode Island College, a degree program she helped design after over a decade of experience supporting young people.

Across Rhode Island, Court mentored kids to make change and treat themselves with kindness. Before working as Program Director at Youth in Action, she taught about life skills and managing emotions as a counselor at the Key Program, a local network of youth residential homes. 

She was a casual philosopher, constantly scheming about how to fight for better, which led her to facilitate racial justice workshops, advocate for Jump Bikes, and connect low-income families with their city as a climate justice policy associate for the City of Providence.

Court showed generations of people that their voices, questions and contributions matter. She believed strongly that everything we do and say, how we show up, means something. She had a way of making people feel like they belonged anywhere by being curious - her first question was usually about favorite snacks - and encouraging others to be their boldest selves. 

In a note she wrote to Ashlie, one of her former youth, she wrote "you are somebody!" For so many people, Court was the first person to help them believe that they were somebody. She was love personified.

On her 38th birthday, Court made good on a long-held promise to herself and moved to Oakland, California to pursue adventure, growth, and sunshine. She quickly built a community, as she always did, teaching at Elmhurst United Middle School, watching sunsets from her porch with a good beat, and telling stories with neighbors at Toastmasters, a public speaking club. She told loved ones that she was beyond proud of the life she built for herself. 

Court is survived by her parents, Denise and Edward Hines, siblings Leque, Tiarga, Gerrod and Cleondra King, and nieces and nephews Taray and Shamir Miller, Tray and Adrian King, Lyn’nasia (Nay) Abercrombie and Jhsaan-Lee Amir Nunez.

She also leaves behind her grandmother, Emma Goddard, Dominga Jean Costa, aunts Arva and Lesley Goddard, Jackie Odunaike, Fannie King and Diane Logan, and uncles Ronnie King, Timothy King and Jerome Costa. 

She is proceeded in death by her father Wayne Costa, grandmother Cleo Hines, grandfather James Goddard, great grandmothers Lula B. Logan and Dollie Costa, great uncles Dorsey Mccreary and Benjamin King, and great aunts Carol Johnson and Katherine Baptista. 

She will also be greatly missed by her cousins Timothy, Anthony and Timesha King-Goddard, Sherry Bodie, Timothy King Jr., Tazayia, James, Jacob, Vivian and William Goddard, Cheryl Moody, Donald and Mike King, Jamie Baptista, Kendra Momon, Olufunmilayo Odunaike, Toni, Brad, Brian, Ulyssa and Janika Johnson, and all those she found and loved along the way.

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