USA: Nation's loss: Coretta Scott King - requiescat in pace, dear lady

She was outspoken but quiet, even regal as she lived out her days far beyond those of her assassinated husband.

She never played the race card, or allowed her person or her name to be hijacked by flauntleroys who wanted to make her deceased husband their own marionette - altho a certain set of black leaders like Jesse Jackson sure did their best to outflank her.

She never pulled back from that insistence on going forward in improving race relations in the USA, advancing the well-being of all racial minorities and the majority alike, the poor and the middleclass of which she was a member.

With all these virtues, she enhanced the appreciation all Americans have for her husband, whose reputation benefited from her lending him her unsullied union.

I can't help but feel we should rename and redefine that day we've celebrated these decades as Martin Luther King Day. Why couldn't we have a short version, with the lady's name first? Let's just call the day each year "Coretta's and Martin's Day." Like a Saint's Day on the Christian liturgical calendar. They certainly were part of that tradition.

Coretta Scott King, thankyou!
Coretta Scott King, rest in peace with all the saints in glory!

- Owlbird, Anaximaximum, Politicarp, and Owlie Scowlie

"I've come today to offer the sympathy of our entire nation at the passing of a woman who worked to make our nation whole," President Bush said. "Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own."