Clara Ester, an activist who as a 20-year-old college student rushed to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s side when he was shot, has died at the age of 78. Ester was among a few remaining witnesses to King’s assassination and its immediate aftermath in Memphis.

Early Life and Activism

Ester grew up in Memphis attending Centenary United Methodist Church, where her pastor was civil rights leader the Rev. James Lawson. She became involved in the civil rights movement, participating in the sanitation workers’ strike and attending mass meetings.

Ester clearly remembered the impact of hearing King’s speech at the Mason Temple the night before he was assassinated and how it seemed to foreshadow his death the next day. She had gone to the Lorraine Motel for dinner on April 4, 1968, when she saw King chatting on the balcony with people below. Then she heard a shot.

Legacy

After King’s assassination, Ester left Memphis and worked as a neighborhood organizer at the Dumas Wesley Community Center in Mobile, Alabama. She later became the executive director of the center and was commissioned as a deaconess in the United Methodist Church. Ester remained active in the church throughout her life and held leadership roles, including serving as the national vice president of United Methodist Women.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.