Coretta Scott King dead at 78

updated 8:32 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2006

ATLANTA - Coretta Scott King, who worked to keep her husband’s dream alive with a chin-held-high grace and serenity that made her a powerful symbol of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s creed of brotherhood and nonviolence, died Tuesday. She was 78.

King died in her sleep during the night at an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico, her family said.

In a statement released Tuesday, the King family said she in Mexico “for observation and consideration of treatment for ovarian cancer. She was considered terminal by physicians in the United States. Mrs. King and her family wanted to explore other options.”

King was partially paralyzed and suffering from cancer when she arrived last week at the clinic where she died, clinic doctors said.

They gave the cause of death as respiratory failure, related both to a serious stroke she suffered in August and the cancer they said was diagnosed last year.

King checked into the Santa Monica Health Institute in the Mexican beach resort of Rosarito, 16 miles south of San Diego, on Thursday under another name. The doctors said they did not know who she was until her medical records arrived on Friday, and they never began any treatment because of her condition.

"She came here with half her body paralyzed," Dr. Rafael Cedeno, the doctor who was overseeing her case, said at a news conference. "She was in really bad condition."

Last appearance two weeks ago
Just two weeks ago, she made her first public appearance in a year on the eve of her late husband’s birthday.

Arrangements were being made to fly the body to Atlanta.

News of her death led to tributes to King across Atlanta, including a moment of silence in the Georgia Capitol and piles of flowers placed at the tomb of her slain husband. Flags at the King Center — the institute devoted to the civil rights leader’s legacy — were lowered to half-staff.

“She wore her grief with grace. She exerted her leadership with dignity,” the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King’s husband in 1957.

Rice, others hail civil rights icon
In a statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said “the United States and the world have lost a champion of human rights. Mrs. King was one of the pioneers in our country's fight for equality and justice for all its citizens. Her courageous stand alongside Dr. King during a time of tremendous struggle for America was one of our greatest examples of selfless dedication to the good of all Americans.”

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, one of Martin Luther King’s top aides, said Coretta Scott King’s fortitude rivaled that of her husband. “She was strong, if not stronger than he was,” Young said.

Coretta Scott King was a supportive lieutenant to her husband during the most dangerous and tumultuous days of the civil rights movement, and after his assassination in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, she carried on his work while also raising their four children.

“I’m more determined than ever that my husband’s dream will become a reality,” the young widow said soon after his slaying.

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