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King, Martin Luther (1929-1968)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 11 p. 1, 12
Birth date: 1929 Jan 15
text of obituary:
Memorial Services at Colleges
A NUMBER of Mennonite representatives were among the many thousands who attended the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, Ga. on Tuesday.
According to information received by the Review early this week, those attending included Edgar Stoesz, Akron, Pa., representing Mennonite Central Committee; Dr. Guy F. Hershberger, Goshen, Ind., of the (Old) Mennonite Church, and Rev. Esko Loewen, North Newton, Kan. of the General Conference Mennonite Church. Also attending were Vincent Harding, a Mennonite on the faculty of Spelman College in Atlanta, and a carload of seminary students from Elkhart, Ind.
The (Old) Mennonite and General Conference Peace and Social Concerns committees were holding a joint meeting in New York at the time of the assassination and acted to have both conferences represented at the funeral.
AN MCC Voluntary Service unit has been located in Atlanta since 1960, and over the years many of its members have attended the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King shared the ministry with his father. Mennonite volunteers have assisted in the summer Bible school program at the Ebenezer church. Vincent Harding served for several years as leader of the Atlanta unit.
Numerous Mennonites heart Dr. King when he lectured at Bethel and Goshen colleges in 1960.
On Friday, April 5, memorial services for the slain Negro leader were held at Bethel and Hesston colleges (see page 12). At Goshen College, Friday classes were suspended and a special Sunday service was held in the church chapel. Reports from other schools were incomplete at press time.
THIRTY-SEVEN students and three faculty members from Bethel College drove to Memphis, Tenn. to participate in the Monday civil rights march there.
William Snyder, MCC executive secretary, commented: "Although MCC was not an integral part of Dr. King's organization, we feel he represented Christian values in meeting the problems of racial tension that are besetting the country."
The General Conference Mennonite Church sent a letter of sympathy to Mrs. King and family; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, and to a number of congregations with predominantly Negro memberships.
THE LETTER reads, in part: "In this moment of tragic sorrow, we pray God's forgiveness for our apathy and indifference to circumstances which caused Dr. King's death. We ask for conviction and courage to accept our greater role as people dedicated to freedom and justice for all."
The Mennonite Brethren Board of Missions and Services recently authorized two programs in the field of race relations. One calls for intensifying its Christian Service program in the inner cities of Omaha and Detroit. In the other, Mennonite Brethren homes across the U. S. and Canada will soon receive invitations to host children of all races 10 to 14 years of age during local vacation Bible school programs.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 11 p. 1, 3
text of obituary:
World Joins in Mourning for King
President Johnson declared a two-day period of public mourning, and religious and political leaders all around the world joined in expressing grief at the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was cut down by a sniper's bullet April 4 at Memphis, Tenn.
Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, as well as dignitaries from a number of foreign countries, attended funeral services Tuesday morning at Ebenezer Baptist church, Atlanta, Ga., where King and his father Martin Luther King Sr., were co-pastors.
An estimated 150,000 persons took part in the mile and a half funeral march from the church to the campus of Morehouse College, where a public service was held in the afternoon. King's casket rested rested on a crude farm wagon drawn by two mules.
Johnson issued an appeal that every citizen "reject the blind violence that has struck Dr. King who lived by non-violence."
The 39-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, preached non-violence as the only way of solving the nation's race crisis but was himself the victim of violence. He had come to Memphis to lead mass demonstrations in the 55-day-old garbage workers strike.
King died within a half hour after being hit in the neck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of a Memphis motel. The sniper, a white man, shot from a house across the street, apparently with a telescopic rifle such as was used by the assassin of the late President John F. Kennedy. As of early this week, the killer had not yet been apprehended.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 11 p. 8
text of obituary:
. . .
• Several hundred persons attended a community memorial service for Dr. Martin Luther King last Sunday afternoon at the First Unite Presbyterian Church. The service was sponsored by the Newton Human Relations Fellowship, and the president, Rev. Ralph W. Milligan, presided and read several excerpts from Dr. King's writings. Several ethnic and denominational groups were represented among those taking part.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 11 p. 12
text of obituary:
Bethel College
Memorial Services for Civil Rights Leader
North Newton. — Special services honoring Dr. Martin Luther King were held during a morning convocation April 5 at Bethel College. Another service, sponsored by the Peace Club, was held in the evening in the Bethel College Mennonite Church.
Selected readings and sayings of Dr. King and musical selections by Willie Price were included in the evening service.
Three Students (Bobbie Bland, Tampa, Fla.; Henry Jones, Chicago; and Willie Price, Bassfield, Miss.) and D. J. Lloyd Spaulding participated in the special convocation and spoke in tribute to Dr. King.
"He was supremely a pastor, a shepherd of the flock in the context of the southern Negro community," Dr. Spaulding said. "We have come here this morning to meditate on the taking of a life, on the giving of a life, upon the consequences of complete commitment.
Dr. Dwight Platt, sponsor of the Peace Club at Bethel College made the following statement:
"He was a leader concerned for the good of all men and I hope that we in America can now rise above our prejudices to honor his memory by achieving the society of freedom and brotherhood about which he dreamed."
The president of Bethel College, Dr. Orville L. Voth, had this to say.
"The Bethel College community joins those in our country who pray for guidance and who rededicate themselves to the teachings of Jesus Christ as the hope for brotherhood in our world, principles which also controlled the life of Dr. King.."
. . .
Hesston College
Slain Negro Leader Given Tribute
Hesston, Kan. — In memory and honor of Dr. Martin Luther King a memorial service was conducted in Hesston College chapel the morning following the assassination of the civil rights leader.
Dr. Milo Kauffman, president emeritus, spoke and led the students and faculty in a period of silent intercessory prayer for Dr. King's family and friends, and for men of bitterness and hate.
"The tragedy in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968 as well as the death of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in November, 1963, point to a sick and sinful people," said Dr. Kauffman. "It is no secret that Dr. King, a prophet of love, freedom, and justice was unpopular and hated by some. Yet one quality which characterized King's life was his great love for people — his own people — even his enemy."
The former president also termed Dr. King an apostle of nonviolence and possibly the greatest peacemaker of our time. Through his program of non-violence he taught that love is greater than hate.
"Putting the cause for which he worked above himself; his great faith in God and hope for the future are still other qualities descriptive of the Nobel Peace Prize-winner's life," asserted Dr. Kauffman.
The service was closed with a prayer for penitence and for the American people.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 1,2: "Atlanta Pilgrimage Moving Event" Esko Lowen.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 2
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 2
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 3
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 3
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 18 p. 4
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 25 p. 3