Former U.S. presidents attend Coretta Scott King funeral

LITHONIA, Ga. -- Four U.S. presidents, senators, celebrities and thousands of mourners filled a suburban church Tuesday to say goodbye to Coretta Scott King, praised by President Bush as "one of the most admired Americans of our time."\nThe crowd, estimated to be at least 10,000 strong, stood as King's four children walked in with Bush and former presidents Clinton, Bush and Carter.\n"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," Bush told the crowd. "America knew her husband only as a young man. We knew Mrs. King at all the seasons of her life. And there was grace and beauty in every season."\n"Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own," Bush said. "Having loved a leader, she became a leader, and when she spoke, Americans listened closely."\nAtlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, following Bush, talked about how King spoke out against racism as well as "the senselessness of war and the solutions for poverty."\nKing's voice was heard "from the tin top roofs of Soweto to the bomb shelters of Baghdad," Franklin said. "She sang for liberation, she sang for those who had no earthly reason to sing a song."\nKing, who carried on her husband's dream of equality for nearly 40 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, died Jan. 30 at the age of 78 after battling ovarian cancer and the effects of a stroke.\nThe four presidents, poet Maya Angelou and the Kings' children were among at least 39 people scheduled to speak during the funeral. Stevie Wonder, Michael Bolton, and Bebe and Cece Winans were slated to perform.\nThe Kings' youngest child, Bernice, a minister at the megachurch, was to deliver the eulogy. She was 5 when her father was assassinated in 1968 and is perhaps best remembered for the photographs of her lying in her black-veiled mother's lap during her father's funeral.\nOutside the church Tuesday morning, the lines to get into the funeral and to attend the final viewing of King's body started forming before 3 a.m.\n"There's one word to describe going to go see Coretta -- historic. It's good to finally see her at peace," said Robert Jackson, a 34-year-old financial consultant from Atlanta whose 10-year-old daughter, Ebony, persuaded him to take her to the church.