MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A civil rights activist, Clara Jean Ester, who witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., died last Thursday at 78 years old, according to an obituary.
Ester was a well-known leader in the Memphis community. She was a United Methodist deaconess, civil rights activist, and servant leader; her life and work reflected a deep commitment to faith, nonviolence, and community service, the obituary stated.
She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1965. As a student at LeMoyne-Owen College, she was involved in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike by organizing rallies and attending strike meetings.
Ester was also present at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot, the obituary said…