Funeral arrangements made for Coretta Scott King

<p>Coretta Scott King's funeral will be held Tuesday at the suburban Baptist church where the Kings' youngest child, Bernice, is a minister, after public viewings at the Georgia Capitol and Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband preached.</p><p>The King family issued a statement Thursday that outlined plans for "Celebration of Life Services" in honor of the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. Those include public viewings in the rotunda of the state Capitol for eight hours Saturday, at Ebenezer Baptist all day Monday, and at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the suburb of Lithonia for three hours Tuesday before the funeral is held there at noon that day.</p><p>Also planned is a one-hour memorial musical celebration at the Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary, across the street from the historic Ebenezer church and the King Center, which is the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s tomb.</p><p>The family was requesting, in lieu of flowers, that people donate to a scholarship fund in King's name at her alma mater, Antioch College in Yellow Spring, Ohio.</p><p>"The King family is overwhelmed at the generous outpouring of support, prayers and condolences from all over the world," said Chris Garrett, a family spokesman.</p><p>King, 78, died Tuesday in Rosarito, Mexico, where she was seeking treatment for advanced ovarian cancer. She suffered a heart attack and stroke in August. Medical officials listed her cause of death as respiratory failure.</p><p>After she was released by the Mexican government, King's body was flown to Atlanta from California early Wednesday. Her children were escorted by New Birth's leader, Bishop Eddie Long, on his private plane.</p><p>The 10,000-seat New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is located in Lithonia, about 15 miles east of Atlanta. The family said a three-hour "Home Going Celebration" is planned there Tuesday afternoon after her final public viewing early that morning.</p><p>The King family has not released details about the burial. However, the family is considering having King's body buried at the South-View Cemetery in southeast Atlanta, said Winifred Hemphill, the cemetery association's president.</p><p>Martin Luther King Jr. was originally buried at South-View in the same crypt that now lies in the courtyard of the King Center near his birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he preached in the years before his death. That tomb is a single-person crypt, meaning there is not room for both Coretta Scott King's body and her husband's in it, Hemphill said.</p><p>Southview Cemetery is historically black cemetery that was started by nine former slaves in 1886 and is also where Martin Luther King Jr.'s parents and maternal grandparents are buried.</p><p>Gov. Sonny Perdue's offer for a public viewing at the state Capitol was in stark contrast from when Martin Luther King Jr. died in 1968 and then-Gov. Lester Maddox refused to close the Capitol for his funeral, while also expressing anger over state flags being flown at half-staff in King's honor. Perdue ordered that all flags on state property fly at half-staff until Coretta Scott King's funeral.</p><p>The last public viewing in the Capitol rotunda was in February 2005, for former Gov. S. Ernest Vandiver, a segregationist who won office in 1958 by vowing "no, not one" black child would integrate a Georgia classroom. Before he left office in 1963, he went on to preside over peaceful desegregation.</p>

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