Courage remembered

Perhaps no other person in history has changed the way Americans look at each other than Martin Luther King Jr., whose commitment to social change tore down barriers that seemed insurmountable just 35 years ago.

Tomorrow, Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrates the accomplishments -- and more importantly, the social changes -- that King was behind, changes that ultimately cost the man his life.

"I admire his courageousness. He was a man who lived without fear in his life," said Kim Marie Walker, who is organizing the first Mat-Su Martin Luther King Jr. Day event (see related story). "He lived with integrity every day of his life. He is a 20th century icon for the whole world, not just for our country, not just for minorities. He doesn't belong to any select group. He means everything to us all."

He meant a lot to Mary Lou Banks, now 81 and living in Wasilla. Banks was a friend of King's, well before he became famous. She still talks about "Martin" with fond memories.

"He was at the Crozer Seminary in Philadelphia, and my mother lived next door to a lady who came over every Sunday afternoon and talked about this smart Negro at the college who was at the top of his class," Banks, 81, said.

"They arranged for us to meet one afternoon, and we spent the whole afternoon together," Banks added. "He was such a nice young man."

The next day, Banks said, "Martin was offered a scholarship to go to any school he wanted. He chose Boston University, and then he left for school, that fast," she said.

The two went their separate ways, and King eventually married Coretta Scott in 1953.

He earned a PhD from Boston University in systematic theology in 1955.

Banks studied to become a teacher and was in California years later, when they got the chance to see each other again.

"I picked him up at the San Diego airport in my pink Cadillac then," Banks said with a chuckle. "I had gone to California to teach and he was just elected the leader at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"We spent the afternoon talking about things we'd talked about years before," Banks said.

That was a few years after the Rosa Parks case began in 1955, a time when civil rights didn't mean a thing in America. Parks was arrested after she refused to give up her spot on a bus to a white man, and King organized a bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.

Their afternoon Banks and King spent together was the day before King's first speech to raise money for the Montgomery, Ala. bus boycott.

Parks had one favor to ask of King during that meeting, when they were just two old friends sharing a conversation. King wasn't famous by any means at the time.

"I told Martin, 'You better sign my program for me because you just may be somebody someday,'" Banks said. "I gave that signed program to my grandchildren years ago."

King's work as a civil rights advocate was especially important to Banks.

"I had my run-ins with Johnny Law and got thrown off buses during my time," Banks said. "Rosa Parks was at the right place at the right time."

Throughout the years, Banks and King kept in contact, and Banks said she has always valued their friendship.

"I always kept in contact with Martin as a friend, and we always communicated back and forth as friends, despite all the publicity and everything that was going on at the time," Banks said. "He was a good man and a good friend to me."

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his Memphis hotel room.

He was a good man to many people -- including those who never met Martin Luther King Jr., or saw him fight for the rights of every person regardless of color. Walker said King's impact is felt by everyone in America.

"He transcends time," Walker said. "He fought for us all."