[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 6 (Monday, February 13, 2006)]
[Pages 196-197]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Funeral Service for Coretta Scott King in Lithonia, 
Georgia

February 7, 2006

    To the King Family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: We 
gather in God's house, in God's presence, to honor God's servant, 
Coretta Scott King. Her journey was long and only briefly with a hand to 
hold. But now she leans on everlasting arms. I've come today to offer 
the sympathy of our entire Nation at the passing of a woman who worked 
to make our Nation whole.
    Americans knew her husband only as a young man. We knew Mrs. King in 
all the seasons of her life--and there was grace and beauty in every 
season. As a great movement of history took shape, her dignity was a 
daily rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation. When she wore 
a veil at 40 years old, her dignity revealed the deepest trust in God 
and His purposes. In decades of prominence, her dignity drew others to 
the unfinished work of justice. In all her years, Coretta Scott King 
showed that a person of conviction and strength could also be a 
beautiful soul. This kind and gentle woman became one of the most 
admired Americans of our time. She is rightly mourned, and she is deeply 
missed.
    Some here today knew her as a girl and saw something very special 
long before a young preacher proposed. She once said, ``Before I was a 
King, I was a Scott.'' And the Scotts were strong and righteous and 
brave in the face of wrong. Coretta eventually took on the duties of a 
pastor's wife and a calling that reached far beyond the doors of the 
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

[[Page 197]]

    In that calling, Dr. King's family was subjected to vicious words, 
threatening calls in the night, and a bombing at their house. Coretta 
had every right to count the cost and step back from the struggle. But 
she decided that her children needed more than a safe home--they needed 
an America that upheld their equality and wrote their rights into law. 
And because this young mother and father were not intimidated, millions 
of children they would never meet are now living in a better, more 
welcoming country.
    In the critical hours of the civil rights movement, there were 
always men and women of conscience at the heart of the drama. They knew 
that old hatreds ran deep. They knew that nonviolence might be answered 
with violence. They knew that much established authority was against 
them. Yet they also knew that sheriffs and mayors and Governors were not 
ultimately in control of events, that a greater authority was interested 
and very much in charge. The God of Moses was not neutral about their 
captivity. The God of Isaiah and the prophets was still impatient with 
injustice. And they knew that the Son of God would never leave them or 
forsake them.
    But some had to leave before their time--and Dr. King left behind a 
grieving widow and little children. Rarely has so much been asked of a 
pastor's wife, and rarely has so much been taken away. Years later, Mrs. 
King recalled, ``I would wake up in the morning, have my cry, then go in 
to them. The children saw me going forward.'' Martin Luther King, Jr., 
had preached that unmerited suffering could have redemptive power.
    Little did he know that this great truth would be proven in the life 
of the person he loved the most. Others could cause her sorrow, but no 
one could make her bitter. By going forward with a strong and forgiving 
heart, Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy; she 
built her own. Having loved a leader, she became a leader. And when she 
spoke, America listened closely, because her voice carried the wisdom 
and goodness of a life well lived.
    In that life, Coretta Scott King knew danger; she knew injustice; 
she knew sudden and terrible grief. She also knew that her Redeemer 
lives. She trusted in the Name above every name. And today we trust that 
our sister Coretta is on the other shore--at peace, at rest, at home. 
May God bless you, and may God bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 1 p.m. at the New Birth Missionary Baptist 
Church.