2006 RV - Doug & Crystal

At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, a shot rang out. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been standing on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, now lay sprawled on the balcony's floor. A gaping wound covered a large portion of his jaw and neck. King spent thirteen years of his life dedicating himself to nonviolent protest failed by a sniper's bullet. Dr. King’s funeral service was April 9, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the campus of Morehouse College. The President proclaimed a day of mourning and flags flew half-staff. Dr. King is entombed at Freedom Plaza. This area surrounds Freedom Hall Complex of Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site. The site is 23-acres, listed as a National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1977. On October 10, 1980 declared a National Historic Site by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., died in her sleep at the age of 78. She had worked tirelessly after her husband's death in 1968 to carry on his legacy and only recently began to slow down her efforts. Having suffered a stroke in August 2005, King made a surprising appearance at a children's program in mid-January during events surrounding the annual commemoration of King's birthday. Passive and regal in a wheelchair, King did not speak but welcomed a line of children to her side. King's official cause of death listed is cardio-respiratory failure, cerebral vascular illness, and ovarian cancer, with her heart and lung failures owing in part to the stroke. Her cancerous condition was not made public, however was diagnosed last fall, according to family friends. That condition, deemed inoperable by doctors consulted in the United States, led King's family to check her into an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico on January 26 under an assumed name. No funeral or memorial arrangements had been announced, as King's family escorted her body back to Atlanta. Coretta summed up her and her husband's struggle: "By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent ethic of love, she shall overcome these evils. Love, truth, and the courage to do what is right should be our own guideposts on this lifelong journey."
The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King’s ideals for the “Beloved Community” which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles.