Julie B
05-17-2007, 04:43 AM
I can't even tell you how sad was I to learn yesterday that Yolanda King passed away at the young age of 51. I just want to share a story about her...
When I learned last summer that the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Coretta Scott King was going to be the closing speaker at the 2006 American Dietetic Association Conference (in Hawaii), I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to the conference with me. Although you may be thinking, "What 25 year old is going to say no to Hawaii?" it was really the fact that we could hear Ms. King speak that got us excited to go.
The conference was wonderful, our days going through the Expo were great (I found a lot of IC friendly foods), and we were looking forward to Ms. King's motivational presentation. Early that last afternoon, however, Rebekah left to run an errand, with the intention of getting back right before the closing session. I was at the Expo where I saw the line for Ms. King's book signing had dwindled down to nearly nothing, so I jumped in and bought two of her books. I felt SO bad that Bek wasn't there to meet her in person; I mentioned it in passing to Ms. King's manager as I was waiting my turn to get our books signed.
Evidently Ms. King overheard me and when I got my few moments with her she asked about my daughter. I told her what some of you already know...she is a wonderful pre-school teacher with a real gift for special needs children. She is committed to issues of diversity and tolerance, and is in fact engaged to be married to a Korean man. Despite it being the twenty-first century, they face bigotry all the time. I think that is part of her inspiration.........
I thought Ms. King just wanted to write something special to Rebekah in her book........but she did more than that. She said, "I really want to meet your daughter".......and invited us to meet with her right before her presentation back by the speakers' preparation room.
About an hour later, we were talking privately with Yolanda King. She spent about 15 minutes with us, focusing almost entirely on my daughter....she asked her about her work, the children she teaches, her fiance, and the things she was learning about the Korean culture. Ms. King affirmed Rebekah's work........told her there is no more important job.......and how proud she was of her........and then she talked about how beautiful Rebekah's future children would be......and mentioned..........that she had a bit of Asian in her family tree.........it was incredible.......I can't even find the words to explain it. It was as if you could see their souls touching......like they were in a bubble and the rest of the world disappeared........
When Ms. King's manager came to tell her it was almost time for her to speak, she asked us if we had seats yet. We didn't but said it didn't matter, we would find some. Ms. King said no, we will work something out for you. We ended up in the front row right in front of her. She even looked right at Rebekah a couple of times as she talked about the beauty of diversity, etc. She was still pouring love into my daughter......filling her with her spirit.....(and despite some technical difficulties with her mic) you could tell everyone in the audience took a part of her with them that day.........
All I could think about yesterday was that God took home another saint, and it is up to us to carry on the work......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/spirit7759/smallerYolandaandRebekah.jpg
When I learned last summer that the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Coretta Scott King was going to be the closing speaker at the 2006 American Dietetic Association Conference (in Hawaii), I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to the conference with me. Although you may be thinking, "What 25 year old is going to say no to Hawaii?" it was really the fact that we could hear Ms. King speak that got us excited to go.
The conference was wonderful, our days going through the Expo were great (I found a lot of IC friendly foods), and we were looking forward to Ms. King's motivational presentation. Early that last afternoon, however, Rebekah left to run an errand, with the intention of getting back right before the closing session. I was at the Expo where I saw the line for Ms. King's book signing had dwindled down to nearly nothing, so I jumped in and bought two of her books. I felt SO bad that Bek wasn't there to meet her in person; I mentioned it in passing to Ms. King's manager as I was waiting my turn to get our books signed.
Evidently Ms. King overheard me and when I got my few moments with her she asked about my daughter. I told her what some of you already know...she is a wonderful pre-school teacher with a real gift for special needs children. She is committed to issues of diversity and tolerance, and is in fact engaged to be married to a Korean man. Despite it being the twenty-first century, they face bigotry all the time. I think that is part of her inspiration.........
I thought Ms. King just wanted to write something special to Rebekah in her book........but she did more than that. She said, "I really want to meet your daughter".......and invited us to meet with her right before her presentation back by the speakers' preparation room.
About an hour later, we were talking privately with Yolanda King. She spent about 15 minutes with us, focusing almost entirely on my daughter....she asked her about her work, the children she teaches, her fiance, and the things she was learning about the Korean culture. Ms. King affirmed Rebekah's work........told her there is no more important job.......and how proud she was of her........and then she talked about how beautiful Rebekah's future children would be......and mentioned..........that she had a bit of Asian in her family tree.........it was incredible.......I can't even find the words to explain it. It was as if you could see their souls touching......like they were in a bubble and the rest of the world disappeared........
When Ms. King's manager came to tell her it was almost time for her to speak, she asked us if we had seats yet. We didn't but said it didn't matter, we would find some. Ms. King said no, we will work something out for you. We ended up in the front row right in front of her. She even looked right at Rebekah a couple of times as she talked about the beauty of diversity, etc. She was still pouring love into my daughter......filling her with her spirit.....(and despite some technical difficulties with her mic) you could tell everyone in the audience took a part of her with them that day.........
All I could think about yesterday was that God took home another saint, and it is up to us to carry on the work......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/spirit7759/smallerYolandaandRebekah.jpg