Coretta Scott King

== Illness and death ==
{{main|Death and funeral of Coretta Scott King}}
[[File:Tombstone for Martin Luther King & Coretta Scott King at MLK Historic Site in Atlanta.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King sarcophagus within the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site]]
[[File:Cking.jpg|thumb|upright|Coretta Scott King's temporary 2006 grave]]
By the end of her 77th year, Coretta began experiencing health problems. Her husband's former secretary, Dora McDonald, assisted her part-time in this period.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dewan |first=Shaila |date=January 15, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/us/15mcdonald.html?scp=1&sq=dora%20E.%20mcDonald&st=cse |title=Dora E. McDonald, 81, Secretary to Martin Luther King in '60s |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908155344/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/us/15mcdonald.html?scp=1&sq=dora%20E.%20mcDonald&st=cse |archive-date=September 8, 2017}}</ref> Hospitalized in April 2005, a month after speaking in Selma at the 40th anniversary of the [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma Voting Rights Movement]], she was diagnosed with a heart condition and was discharged on her 78th and final birthday. Later, she suffered several small strokes. On August 16, 2005, she was hospitalized after suffering a [[stroke]] and a mild [[heart attack]]. Initially, she was unable to speak or move her right side. King's daughter Bernice reported that she had been able to move her leg on Sunday, August 21<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8973440/#.UtfiDyj3BmA|title=Coretta Scott King partly paralyzed by stroke|date=August 21, 2005|publisher=NBC News |access-date=January 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116183614/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8973440/#.UtfiDyj3BmA|archive-date=January 16, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> while her other daughter and oldest child Yolanda asserted that the family expected her to fully recover.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-19-coretta_x.htm|title=Family expects Coretta Scott King to recover from stroke|date=August 19, 2005|work=[[USA Today]]|access-date=January 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116213233/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-19-coretta_x.htm|archive-date=January 16, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> She was released from [[Piedmont Hospital]] in Atlanta on September 22, 2005, after regaining some of her speech and continued [[physiotherapy]] at home. Due to continuing health problems, King canceled a number of speaking and traveling engagements throughout the remainder of 2005. On January 14, 2006, Coretta made her last public appearance in Atlanta at a dinner honoring her husband's memory. On January 26, 2006, King checked into a rehabilitation center in [[Rosarito Beach]], Mexico under a different name. Doctors did not learn her real identity until her medical records arrived the next day, and did not begin treatment due to her condition.<ref name=Ricestatement>{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11110291/#.UtiD9Cj3BmA|title=Coretta Scott King dead at 78|publisher=NBC News|date=January 31, 2006}}</ref>

Coretta Scott King died on the late evening of January 30, 2006,<ref name="APobit">{{cite news|title=Coretta Scott King dead at 78|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11110291/ns/us_news-life/t/coretta-scott-king-dead/|access-date=February 25, 2017|agency=Associated Press|publisher=NBC News|date=January 31, 2006|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625015314/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11110291/ns/us_news-life/t/coretta-scott-king-dead|archive-date=June 25, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> at the rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, in the Oasis Hospital where she was undergoing [[Holism#Holistic healing|holistic]] therapy for her stroke and advanced-stage [[ovarian cancer]]. The main cause of her death is believed to be [[Respiration (physiology)|respiratory]] failure due to complications from ovarian cancer.<ref name="APobit" /> The clinic at which she died was called the Hospital Santa Mónica, but was licensed as Clínica Santo Tomás. After reports indicated that it was not legally licensed to "perform surgery, take X-rays, perform laboratory work or run an internal pharmacy, all of which it was doing", as well as reports of it being operated by highly controversial medical figure [[Kurt Donsbach]], it was shut down by medical commissioner Dr. Francisco Versa.<ref>{{cite news |title=Clinic, founder operate outside norm |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=February 1, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McKinley |first=James C. |title=Mexico Closes Alternative Care Clinic Where Mrs. King Died |work=The New York Times |date=February 4, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/international/americas/04mexico.html?ex=1189656000&en=39df23f0fc555dd8&ei=5070 |access-date=September 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615201002/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/international/americas/04mexico.html?ex=1189656000&en=39df23f0fc555dd8&ei=5070 |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> King's body was flown from Mexico to Atlanta on February 1, 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/02/06/2003291815|title=King widow lies in state in Georgia|work=[[Taipei Times]]|date=February 6, 2006|access-date=January 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118094754/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/02/06/2003291815|archive-date=January 18, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

King's eight-hour funeral at the [[New Birth Missionary Baptist Church]] in [[Lithonia, Georgia|Lithonia]], Georgia was held on February 7, 2006. Bernice King delivered her eulogy. U.S. Presidents [[George W. Bush]], [[Bill Clinton]], [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[Jimmy Carter]] attended, as did their wives, with the exception of former First Lady [[Barbara Bush]] who had a previous engagement. The [[Gerald Ford|Ford]] family was absent due to the illness of President Ford (who himself died later that year). Senator and future President [[Barack Obama]], among other elected officials,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582?tid=relatedcl |title=Barack Obama: How He Did It |work=[[Newsweek]]|date=November 4, 2008 |access-date=May 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903175119/http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582?tid=relatedcl |archive-date=September 3, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> attended the televised service.

[[File:MLK Memorial in Atlanta, Georgia by George Paul Puvvada..jpg|thumb|right|Sarcophagus site in the King Center.]]President [[Jimmy Carter]] and Rev. [[Joseph Lowery]] delivered funeral orations and were critical of the [[Iraq War]] and the wiretapping of the Kings.<ref name=HuffPo/><ref>McNamara, Melissa (February 7, 2006) [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/national/main1283675.shtml 'She Is Deeply Missed'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205032901/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/national/main1283675.shtml |date=February 5, 2011 }}, ''[[CBS News]]''</ref>
King was temporarily laid in a grave on the grounds of the King Center until a permanent place next to her husband's remains could be built.<ref>[http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=75750]{{dead link|date=September 2011}}</ref> She had expressed to family members and others that she wanted her remains to lie next to her husband's at the King Center. On November 20, 2006, the new [[sarcophagus]] containing the bodies of the Kings was unveiled in front of friends and family. The sarcophagus is the third resting place of Martin Luther King and the second of Coretta Scott King.