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  • America pays tribute to a great woman and mighty prayer warrior—Coretta Scott King!
  • Do you know about the fascinating life of Coretta? Get the scoop here.
  • Our 6th President, John Quincy Adams tells about his favorite prayer—and we guarantee you know it!

Things to pray for
President and Mrs. Bush join hands with former President Clinton and Senator Clinton as well as former President Bush and Carter and Mrs. Carter (out of photo) at the beginning of the memorial service for Coretta Scott King on February 7, 2006. Photo courtesy of the White House.

  1. The memorial services for Coretta Scott King are all over now, and she is finally laid to rest, so we can pray that the witness to God’s truth, justice and powerful love that was given in the services will be spread to many more people who need to know about God and His love.
  2. The Olympics are starting today! And First Lady Laura Bush is there, serving as a representative from the U.S. and the White House. That is pretty exciting, but it means it is a great time to pray for all the people attending the Olympics—fans, workers and athletes alike, asking God to protect the entire event, so that no harm will come to people there. Pray that those who are seeking to bring the Good News of Jesus to those attending the event will be successful.
  3. Pray for the members of our military who bravely face danger around the world, asking God to cover each one with His protection and care. Pray for wisdom for the leaders of every branch of the military, asking God to strengthen and guide them in their leadership, and pray for all the kids who are doing without a mom or a dad because they are serving in the military.

Leaders to pray for

Photo courtesy of the White House.

Vice President--Dick Cheney
The Vice President is one of the closest positions to the President, and in Richard Cheney, President Bush has an experienced and trusted advisor. Vice President Cheney brings a lot of great experience to his job, both in business and in public service. He has served four presidents starting with Richard Nixon and was Chief of Staff for Gerald Ford. He has also served in Congress as a representative from his home state of Wyoming. How popular was he? He was re-elected five times!

Mr. Cheney was Secretary of Defense during two key military campaigns—Operation Just Cause in Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East. During these campaigns he shaped the U.S. military during a time of great change—the Cold War was ending and a new way of dealing with the nations of the world was being developed. For this dedicated service, Vice President Cheney was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H.W. Bush (#43).

As Vice President, Mr. Cheney is also the President of the Senate where he sometimes casts the deciding vote. He must be ready to step in to the role of the Chief Executive should anything ever happen to the President!

Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941 and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Wyoming. Mr. Cheney married his high school sweetheart, Lynne Ann Vincent, in 1964, and they have grown daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, three granddaughters and one grandson.

Photo courtesy of the White House.

Acting Director of FEMA-- R. David Paulison
R. David Paulison was designated by President George W. Bush to serve as Acting Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response and Acting Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on September 12, 2005. That means he stepped in to direct FEMA, replacing Michael D. Brown.

Mr. Paulison has been a firefighter for most of his life—over 30 years—so he has lots of experience with emergencies! Before joining FEMA, Mr. Paulison was chief of the Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue Department. He began his career as a rescue firefighter and rose through the ranks of rescue lieutenant commander, district chief of operations, division chief, assistant chief and then deputy director for administration before becoming the Miami-Dade Fire Chief. He is a certified paramedic and, as fire chief, oversaw the Miami-Dade Urban Search and Rescue Task Force.

Mr. Paulison brings emergency management experience includes Hurricane Andrew and the crash of ValuJet Flight 592. He is also past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

A native of Miami, FL Mr. Paulison earned a bachelor of arts from Florida Atlantic University and completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University.

Through each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
--Psalm 42:8

My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. Now I am departing the world; I am leaving them behind and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them and care for them--all those you have given me--so that they will be united just as we are.
--John 17:9, 11

Portrait courtesy of the Smithsonian.

There are two prayers that I love to say—the first is the Lord’s Prayer, and because the Lord taught it; and the other is what seems to be a child’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep,” and I love to say that because it suits me. I have been repeating it every night for many years past, and I say it yet, and I expect to say it my last night on earth…
--John Quincy Adams

President Bush spoke to the thousands gathered at Tuesday’s memorial service for Coretta Scott King. Many speakers made frequent references to Scripture, including President Bush. Photo courtesy of the White House.

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.

In [her] 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.
--George W. Bush

Last week a wonderful woman of God went home to heaven, and a whole lot of people stopped to take notice and to honor her memory. Coretta Scott King was honored in lots of incredible ways, and many “firsts” surrounded her memorial service. This week we’ll learn a little about her and her incredible legacy as well as learning about the historic importance of her memorial service.

Coretta was a beautiful young woman, as seen in this photo from her late teens. Photo courtesy of the New England Conservatory of Music.

Coretta came into the world on April 27, 1927. She was born in the small town of Heiberger, Alabama and grew up on her parents’ farm. Farming the same parcel since the 1860’s the family got along well, though they didn’t have much. When the Depression hit, the kids in her family—that’s Edythe and Obie, as well as Coretta—all helped the family’s finances by picking cotton. The other members of their family included their father, Obediah and mother, Bernice. Obediah and Bernice raised their children to value education and to work hard, and they taught them strong Christian values and the importance of prayer. Mr. Obediah Scott was the first black man in their area to own a truck, and he eventually opened a dry goods store. About those early years, Coretta said:

I grew up on a farm. We were culturally deprived, but we were not poor in the sense that we didn't have very much. We had limited resources, because in the country at that time nobody had very much, and we had probably more than most people.

This is a typical small town southern church, though not the one Coretta and her family faithfully attended.

Church was an important part of the family’s life too. When Coretta went to church, she joined with others who were suffering the indignities of racism—but she was also encouraged to handle those indignities with prayer. She explains it like this:

As a young child growing up in Marion, Alabama, I remember my pastor at Mt. Tabor Church responding to the racial abuse of one of our congregation by saying, "God loves us all, and people will reap what they sow… So just keep on praying. Don't worry. God will straighten things out." I believed he was right then, and I believe it still.

Coretta considered a career in music, since she was such a gifted vocalist. And she did indeed go to New England Conservatory of Music and completed a degree in Music Education. Photo courtesy of Stanford University.

Just like many PPT Kids, Coretta also learned to pray from her parents. She explains it like this:

My parents made sure that prayer would be a regular part of my life, and it has been to this very day. Prayer is how we open our hearts to God, how we make that vital connection that empowers us to overcome overwhelming obstacles and become instruments of God's will. And despite the pain and suffering that I have experienced and that comes to all of our lives, I am more convinced than ever before that prayer gives us strength and hope, a sense of divine companionship, as we struggle for justice and righteousness.

This picture shows the Lincoln School in Marion, AL where Coretta attended. The last class at Lincoln School graduated in 1969. Photo courtesy of Marion, AL.

Coretta worked very hard in school. As a young child she walked five miles each day to get to her one-room school, even though white children rode the bus to a school that was closer. Later, during high school, she traveled nine miles to get to Lincoln School in nearby Marion. Since it was so far to her school, Coretta’s mom hired a bus and drove all the black kids to school. The only other choice would have been for the kids to stay in Marion, but Bernice didn’t want her children to be away from home during the week, so she drove them! These early experiences with racial prejudice would influence young Coretta greatly.

While at Lincoln School, Coretta fell in love with music and pursued it with passion. She learned piano, trumpet and developed her voice, singing in school recitals. Coretta was also a terrific student, graduating at the top of her class in 1945. After graduation from high school, she went to Antioch College, Ohio, where her sister Edythe had been the first fulltime black student to live on campus. Antioch gave Coretta a great opportunity to experience life in a different way from what she had known in the South. At this mainly-white school she had many new opportunities. Majoring in music and education, she had the world open up to her through the marvels of college education.

One of the original buildings at Antioch College in Ohio.

A practical thinker, Coretta knew that a career in music performance, her true love, might not lead to the security she sought in life, so she also prepared for education. And she loved the other courses she took, including chemistry, economics, writing, political science and more. Coretta also believed in the great value of education for every person. In an article about her love for her time at Antioch College she concluded,

“I’m glad I came to college. I think I’ve got a lot from it. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is how much there is to learn. I’m glad I came North to a [racially] mixed school. It hasn’t always been easy, but it gets easier every day. The more I study the more excited I get about what I’m learning. The more I work, the easier I find it is to do a good job. A college education has offered me more than the chance to better my condition, to acquire prestige, to earn my living. It has opened a lot of doors leading to a lot of different directions.”

This photo shows part of the campus of Boston College. Coretta and Martin met when he was a graduate student at Boston College. Image courtesy of Boston College.

It’s pretty great that Coretta could go to college, don’t you think? Not content to stop there, Coretta continued her education, enrolling in the New England Conservatory of Music after graduating from Antioch in 1951. Coretta had a tough time in Boston and had to work very hard cleaning the stairwells of her building just to scrape by! Her dinners often consisted of peanut butter and crackers. She had a full scholarship to cover her tuition, but she didn’t have much financial support from other sources.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a serious student studying for the ministry when Coretta met him.

The great and historic city of Boston brought more new experiences for Coretta. The virtual seat of the abolition movement, she found even greater acceptance, yet equality and full rights were more hoped for than realized. While Coretta was working on her music studies, which now included violin, a young minister was across town studying for a doctoral degree in systematic theology at Boston University. Coretta met Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1952, and they dated for some time, even though Martin was quite certain of his love for Coretta very early in their relationship.

Coretta struggled with the proposal to marry Martin, but once God confirmed her decision, she knew she had met her destiny. They loved each other very much.

Because she was so focused on her goal of performing music, Coretta really wasn’t sure she should marry Martin. He was charming and sweet, yet she resisted his advances. She really wasn’t sure what to do about this wonderful man who had come into her life.

How did Coretta figure out what to do? She prayed. That’s right. Coretta prayed about the decision to marry Martin, because that is what she had been taught to do by her mother and father. She didn’t want to give up the purpose she knew God intended for her life, but she never expected to meet such a special man. So Coretta prayed. And God spoke to her very clearly in a dream, helping her surrender her struggle. Here’s how Coretta explained it in an interview:

I had to pray about it, because my parents were religious, I was brought up in the church, and I had a strong faith. I always believed that there was a purpose for my life, and that I had to seek that purpose, and that if I discovered that purpose, then I believed that I would be successful in what I was doing. And I thought I had found that purpose when I decided that music was going to be my career -- concert singing...

I studied voice the first year, and after I met Martin and prayed about whether or not I should open myself to that relationship, I had a dream, and in that dream, I was made to feel that I should allow myself to be open and stop fighting the relationship. And that's what I did, and of course the rest is history.

The couple married in 1953 and the next year and Martin was called to be the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL, the city that became a center of much of the struggle for civil rights.

When Coretta married Martin, she knew she would be a pastor’s wife—and that is a tough enough job! But she did not know that she would be thrust into the heart of the civil rights movement and that her family would be threatened, bombed and inconvenienced in so many ways over the years.

The children came soon. Yolanda was born in 1955, shortly before the bus boycott in Montgomery. With the boycott came great peril as their house was bombed in 1956 and two-month-old Yolanda narrowly escaped injury. With this new development, Coretta had to remain vigilant to protect her husband and children. There were many more threats and Martin was injured many times. The Kings had three more children: Martin Luther III, Dexter, and Bernice.

The civil rights movement grew, and Coretta continued to support her husband and to work for equality and freedom for all people in America. Coretta walked with Martin in marches, she traveled overseas with him, she gave speeches when he was unable to do so, and she even sang in concerts to raise money for important causes.

Sadly, Martin was felled by an assassin’s bullet in 1968. The nation mourned, and Coretta carried on the important work, traveling with her children to Memphis for a very important march just days after Martin’s death.

Coretta Scott King attending the funeral of her husband, Martin, with daughter Bernice on her lap.

Coretta Scott King continued to work in the civil rights movement, making so many contributions, it’s hard to list them all. Her life and work were so incredibly significant that it took six hours to complete her memorial service—there were so many people who wanted to pay tribute to her!

Through the many years of her work, Coretta had a special source of help and strength—prayer! When she needed support or understanding for those who persecuted her or she was just concerned about her personal security, Coretta learned to rely on prayer. Here’s how she talked about it in her own words:

Prayer was a wellspring of strength and inspiration during the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the movement, we prayed for greater human understanding. We prayed for the safety of our compatriots in the freedom struggle. We prayed for victory in our nonviolent protests, for brotherhood and sisterhood among people of all races, for reconciliation and the fulfillment of the Beloved Community.

Rev. Bernice King preached powerfully at her mother’s memorial service on Tuesday. Rev. King, the only child of Rev. and Mrs. King to pursue the ministry, is an elder at New Birth Missionary Church. Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Coretta’s life came to an end on January 30, 2006—on her son Dexter’s birthday. Many tributes have been held to honor her memory, and on Tuesday, February 7, more than 10,000 people came to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA for a six hour service honoring her life. The current president, George W. Bush, attended, along with three past presidents—Bush, Carter and Clinton. Three planeloads of congresspersons were there along with an impressive array of clergy and civil rights leaders. Martin and Coretta’s youngest daughter, Bernice (named for her grandma, Coretta’s mom!) delivered the eulogy and the message of the day. Bernice is the only King child to follow her father’s footsteps into ministry, though many nieces and nephews have done so.

QUESTION 1

True or False When Coretta Scott King was growing up, her family lived in total poverty, struggling to make a living on their family farm.

  1. True
  2. False

QUESTION 2

What did Coretta’s pastor tell the members of his church to do when they experienced persecution and prejudice?

  1. He told them to fight back so people would see that they couldn’t be pushed around.
  2. He told them to preach at those who persecuted them, so they would stop persecuting when they heard the Gospel.
  3. He told them to keep praying, because God is the only one who can work it all out in the end.

The Bible is full of reminders that God is the final judge and the one who takes care of “paybacks.” There are lots of great verses that encourage us to leave the paybacks to God, since we could never administer justice fairly. Hover here to read some great verses about this.

QUESTION 3

Coretta Scott King spoke openly about her devout prayer life on many occasions, telling how her parents taught her the important practice of prayer. Which things did Coretta say characterized prayer for her?

  1. Coretta said that prayer is the way we open our hearts to God and make a really special connection with Him.
  2. Coretta said that prayer can help us overcome just about any obstacle, when we surrender to God and let Him use us for His purposes.
  3. Coretta said that prayer is one of the very best sources for help and strength when you are working for righteousness and justice.

QUESTION 4

True or False Coretta Scott King really didn’t like school or studies that much, but she pursued them because she knew they would help her in the fight for justice.

  1. True
  2. False

QUESTION 5

True or False When Coretta Scott first met Martin Luther King, Jr. she really didn’t want to get involved in a relationship with him.

  1. True
  2. False

QUESTION 6

How did Coretta finally decide what to do about the persistent man, Martin Luther King, Jr. who insisted on marrying her?

  1. Coretta grew weary of Martin’s persistent interest in her, so she finally gave in and married him.
  2. Coretta knew that the best way to understand God’s will for her life was to turn to Him in prayer, so she did.
  3. Coretta talked to her mother to find out what she should do about Martin’s proposal.

QUESTION 7

True or False The people involved in the Civil Rights movement were very smart so they relied on their intelligence to accomplish the great things they did.

  1. True
  2. False

QUESTION 8

When Coretta Scott King tells about the vital role that prayer played in her life and in the lives of many civil rights activists, how does she describe the practice of prayer?

  1. Coretta says that she took much inspiration and strength from her practice of prayer.
  2. Coretta says that the civil rights activists prayed for understanding, protection and even victory.
  3. Coretta said that she and others prayed that people of all races would be brought together like brothers and sisters.

Wow! Coretta Scott King lived such an extraordinary life, it’s hard to sum it up. While it is sad that she has passed away from life on this earth, it is really great to know that she is rejoicing in heaven with many of her loved ones, including Martin! And she truly is free at last!

Coretta Scott King accomplished extraordinary things in her life, but there is one thing that marked her life at every point—the habit and practice of prayer! And for that reason, if no other, she is a fantastic example for PPT Kids because we want to learn to look to God in prayer all the time. So look to Coretta as a great woman of God, and when in doubt, follow her example.

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