ATLANTA - Bernice King and her brothers Martin and Dexter lit a candle in memory of their older sister as hundreds gathered Thursday to celebrate the life of Yolanda "Yoki" Denise King.
Andrew Young, John Lewis, Xernona Clayton, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, Juanita Abernathy and others who struggled for equality alongside her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., were among the dignitaries who mourned Ms. King and honored her life devoted to art and activism.
Many in attendance did not know the eldest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, but came to pay tribute to the Kings' legacy of nonviolence and social justice - a tradition Ms. King carried on through her passion for civil rights and drama.
Ms. King, 51, died May 15 in California after she collapsed and could not be revived. She was eulogized Thursday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father preached from 1960 until his death in 1968.
"She dealt with the difficulty of personal pain and public responsibility and yet ... she emerged from it all victorious," said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the pastor of Ebenezer. "Thank you for her voice."
President Bush, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sent letters of condolence. Poet Maya Angelou also sent a written tribute, which was read aloud during the ceremony.
"Yolanda proved daily that it was possible to smile while wreathed in sadness," Ms. Angelou wrote. "In fact, she proved that the smile was more powerful and sweeter because it had to press itself through mournfulness to be seen, force itself through cruelty to show that the light of survival shines for us all."
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