Local & State Headlines

King life, legacy celebrated

• A former educator, civil rights activist and community leader is laid to rest after a celebration of her life at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Albany.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — Carol R. King’s spirit was released symbolically about 1 p.m. Wednesday, represented by doves that encircled above the family burial plot as they slowly ascended.

“Some glad morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away,” King’s family and friends sang with the most solemn voices heard throughout the two-hour funeral Wednesday as the white-gray birds drifted out of sight behind the tall softwoods and hardwoods of Albany’s Oakview Cemetery.

“To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away.”

Before dozens of mourners made their way to the downtown cemetery, hundreds had gathered inside the sanctuary of Mount Zion Baptist Church to pay final respects to King, an educator and civil rights champion.

King died of lung cancer on Sept. 27 in Englewood, N.J., where her daughter, Peggy King Jorde, lives. She was 79.

King is credited with helping found the Southeast’s first Head Start program. She was the the widow of Albany civil rights attorney C.B. King, who was first black lawyer in Southwest Georgia and the attorney for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was jailed in Albany in the early 1960s.

While some cried and Carol R. King’s loss was mourned, the attendees more so celebrated her life, her legacy and her journey home.

“Open the flood gate of heaven. Let it rain,” sang Austin Giles, the Mount Zion Choir’s female voices pleading the same as they thundered throughout the sanctuary.

At the King’s celebration were leaders from local government, as well as representatives of Albany’s federal delegation. There were educators, community leaders, regular folks and children.

King’s casket rested just off the church altar and faced her family, who sat in the first few rows of pews in the center section.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. sisters — each dressed in black with a black, green and pink AKA sash tossed over her left shoulder — marched in after the family. Two rows of women, members of a mission group to which King belonged, wore white.

As tales of King were shared, lesser known facts about her were revealed, such as knack for making broccoli and cheese casserole, said grandson Jordan Drew King, who delivered his remarks in a poetry.

“She made excellent pound cake,” said one relative, reading a letter from Preston T. King, brother of C.B. King.

Culinary details aside, those who spoke at her 11 a.m. funeral shared stories about the help she provided for children, about her role in the Albany Civil Rights Movement. They spoke of her determination, of her courage and of her grace.

“She was not just a supporter of civil rights, but an activist in her own right,” Preston King stated in his letter. “She was an eye on them; she had a hand on them.”

The Rev. Daniel Simmons of Mount Zion, who delivered the eulogy, likened King to the Old Testament’s Esther.

Simmons, whose eloquent testimony of King’s life received amens and hallelujahs and clapping, said that God had a plan when he planted the former educators in Albany.

“She had her own calling, and I’m so glad she knew what it was,” said Simmons, his voice crescendoing with passion. “If you’ve been called and you know you’ve been called, God gives you that kind of courage.”

“Everybody loves her today, but children, don’t believe all this hype,” said Simmons. “When she walked, not all walked with her.”

Still, he said, speaking to King, “You got your crown.”

Simmons said King’s accomplishments should not be overshadowed by those of her late husband.

At Oakview, as some of King’s grandsons slowly and carefully pulled her blond wood casket out of a Cadillac hearse, its top obscured by the blooms of white, yellow and pink flowers.

The men placed King next to her late husband on the family plot.

After her spirit was released, friends and family stayed on, chatting, hugging, laughing and still celebrating her life.

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