Coretta Scott King Leaves Own Legacy

Dexter King, in particular, has been the subject of pointed criticism for his stewardship of the center. He once proposed converting the area around it into a Disney-like theme park and, with his mother, fought to control every aspect of his father's writings and speeches, valued at $30 million, yet allowed a pair of telecommunications companies to use King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech to sell their products.

"I don't think King's legacy is in bricks and mortar," Lowery said, "it is in our hearts and minds. I would hope that the [King family] would get a democratically elected board of directors. I am suggesting that the board not belong to one person and I am saying to nieces and nephews to get your act together."

Clayborne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, said the issue of who will care for the center will be hard to resolve.

"For so many years, the King Center was kept alive because of her dedicated efforts," Carson said of Coretta King. "I don't know who in that family is prepared to continue doing that. Since her retirement 10 years ago, there's been a lot of uncertainty about how it would be carried on in perpetuity."

Like many in Atlanta, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King preached, was gripped by sadness.

"I had the privilege of praying with Mrs. King on Dr. King's birthday, and even during illness her sense of strength and triumph was apparent," he said.

Warnock said that he knew King was going to Mexico for treatment, but that she seemed okay. Her death caught him off guard.

"I would have not predicted that she would have left us so soon, but in my experience as a pastor it is a call that is never ours to make. We were taken by surprise, because if there was anyone who could push through this and make it, certainly it would be Mrs. King."

Now he hopes for the opportunity to eulogize his friend and Atlanta's most recognizable figure.

"We fully expect" services to take place at Ebenezer Baptist Church, he said. "Ebenezer was her church home. This was her family."

Fears reported from Washington.