ATLANTA - Dignitaries and veterans of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s honored Coretta Scott King as her body lies in honor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
King died Jan. 30 at age 78. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush lead a list of dignitaries expected to attend her funeral Tuesday in Lithonia. Former President Bill Clinton also was to attend.
Mississippi also has acknowledged King's contributions to the civil rights movement and to keeping alive the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.
State Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, introduced a measure last week after hearing of King's death that celebrates her life and legacy.
"The Senate passed this, and someone will take it over to the funeral on Tuesday," Jordan said.
The senator praised King for standing by her husband and for her role in the movement. "She was a beacon of light and defender of truth," Jordan said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. John Lewis, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
Officials estimated 42,000 mourners filed past her open casket Saturday in the state Capitol's rotunda, where King lay in honor. She was the first woman and the first black person to lie in honor there, in striking contrast to the official snub her slain husband was given by then-Gov. Lester Maddox, an outspoken segregationist.
Also on Sunday, King's four children talked about her last days, saying she had appeared to be making steps toward recovery before she died the day she was supposed to begin treatment at an alternative medical clinic in Mexico.
"It came as a tremendous shock to us. We had no idea," eldest daughter Yolanda King said at a news conference. "She was walking with a cane, she was speaking more words … there was clearly progress happening."
Yolanda King said she and her siblings made the decision to send their mother to the clinic, which Mexican authorities shut down days after King's death, saying it had carried out unproven treatments and unauthorized surgeries. Yolanda King said the family had thoroughly researched the clinic and "were stunned when we found out there were problems and challenges there."
Yolanda King said their mother was recovering from a stroke and heart attack she suffered in August when she was diagnosed with cancer.
"We're missing her like crazy, but we're just so thankful that we had her as long as we did," Yolanda King said. "She's been released and we feel so strongly that she has reconnected with our father."
