From Yahoo News:

Coretta Scott King, who turned a life shattered by her husband's assassination into one devoted to enshrining his legacy of human rights and equality, has died at the age of 78.

Flags at the King Center were lowered to half-staff Tuesday morning.

"We appreciate the prayers and condolences from people across the country," the King family said in a statement. The family said she died during the night. The widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. suffered a serious stroke and heart attack last August.

"It's a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it's a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was," poet Maya Angelou said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"It's bleak because I can't - many of us can't hear her sweet voice - but it's great because she did live, and she was ours. I mean African-Americans and white Americans and Asians, Spanish-speaking - she belonged to us and that's a great thing."

Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered flags at all state buildings to be flown at half-staff and offered to allow King to lie in state at the Capitol. There was no immediate response to the offer, the governor's office said.

King died at Santa Monica Health Institute, a holistic health center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, south of San Diego, said her sister, Edythe Scott Bagley of Cheyney, Pa.

She had gone to California to rest and be with family, according to Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who broke the news on NBC's "Today" show.

At a news conference, Young said Coretta King's fortitude rivaled that of her husband.

"She was strong if not stronger than he was," Young said. "She lived a graceful and beautiful life, and in spite of all of the difficulties, she managed a graceful and beautiful passing."

She was a supportive lieutenant to her husband during the most tumultuous days of the American civil rights movement, and after his assassination in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, she kept his dream alive while also raising their four children.

I had two occassions in my life to meet Mrs. King. Once as a child during the Civil Rights struggle, and once as a young man, when she was keynote speaker at my College Fraternities National Convention.
I don't remember much about that first meeting. I was only five or six years old at the time. But I do remember her appearance at my Fraternities National Convention. What I remember most is how she carried herself... Like a Queen, a lady of class and dignity. I remember thinking how much she has suffered in her life, and how she had never been bowed by the experience.

I remember imagining this noble woman being spit on, cursed and called all manner of names. And I remember her dignity. Somewhere, in storage back in the U.S., I have a picture of us together. As National Director of Publicity at the time for my Fraternity, I had the honor of escorting her. Having done the same of Jesse Jackson and Willie Brown, I remember how different it was with her. It was like being in the presence of a Saint.

Those brief encounters I will never forget. She was a very special lady. Now she gets to see her beloved Martin again. I can't be sad, because I know how much she missed him. Rest in Peace Mrs. King... Rest in Peace...

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.grupo-utopia.com/blog/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1422