Photos: Watkins Funeral Home high-profile funerals

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Watkins Funeral Home has solidified its standing in Atlanta as the place where the black elite come to bury their loved ones. Watkins did the funerals for Coretta Scott King, Yolanda King, Evelyn and Joseph Lowery, James Orange, Joseph Boone, Earl Paulk, Leroy Johnson and Herman Russell. The funeral home will handle the services for civil rights titans the Rev. C.T. Vivian and Rep. John Lewis.

Coretta Scott King she was the first woman and first African American to lie in state at the Georgia State Capitol Building in 2006. Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home handled the multiple-day services. Thousands attended her funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, including four presidents. At the end of marathon day, after King was placed inside an expanded crypt with her husband, the funeral home released white doves (RICH ADDICKS/AJC file)

Evelyn Lowery was the founder and chair of the board of the S.C.L.C. WOMEN INC., the sister organization of the civil rights organization S.C.L.C; and creator of the annual Drum Major for Justice Awards and the annual Evelyn G. Lowery Civil Rights Heritage Educational Tour. She also was the wife of civil rights activist the Rev. Joseph Lowery.

The Rev Joseph Lowery places his hand on the casket of his wife, Evelyn Lowery, while attending her homegoing celebration October 2, 2013, in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the Morehouse College Campus. , Wednesday, October 2, 2013. KENT D. JOHNSON / AJC file

Civil rights leaders the Rev. Joseph Lowery, with wife Evelyn Lowery in 2013, was on the frontlines for the battle for equality. BRANT SANDERLIN / AJC file

The casket of The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery is moved to graveside by horse and carriage at the Westview cemetery, Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Atlanta. For more than four decades after the death of his friend and civil rights icon, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the fiery Alabama preacher was on the front line of the battle for equality, with an unforgettable delivery that rivaled King's — and was often more unpredictable. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool)

The Rev. James Orange, right, with the Rev. Joseph Lowery, organized marches and workers for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and, later, for trade unions. (AJC file)

Larry Randall takes off his hat as he passes the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the body of Civil Rights leader Rev. James Orange in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on Feb. 23, 2008. JOHNNY CRAWFORD / AJC file

Bishop Earl Paulk Jr., a Pentecostal minister, who died March 29, 2009m had been one of the white clergymen who stood with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. Paulk and his brother, the Rev. Donnie Paulk, built a church of more than 10,000 members, a congregation of blacks, whites and Asians (AJC file)

The service funeral of Bishop Earl Paulk Jr., begin with a horse-drawn carriage bearing the body of the bishop followed by a walking procession of all attendees at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Decatur April 4, 2009. VINO WONG / AJC file

Herman J. Russell was a prominent business man who left his mark on the Atlanta skyline.

An honor guard from the Atlanta Police Department enters the funeral for Atlanta builder and civil rights leader Herman J. Russell, at Saint Philip AME Church, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014. Russell, whose construction business helped shape Atlanta’s skyline, died Nov. 15 at the age of 83. KENT D. JOHNSON / AJC FILE

Rev. Joseph Boone, was known "the picketing preacher," who paced back and forth on sidewalks in front of businesses across the South, leading protests that reshaped the region. (RICH ADDICKS / AJC file)

060722 - ATLANTA, GA -- Funeral services July 22, 2006, at the Jackson Memorial Baptist Church for the Rev. Joseph E. Boone, a key civil rights organizer who died at the age of 83 of Alzheimer's disease. At the end of the three-and-a-half-hour service, Boone's casket is taken out of the church as guests stand and family members follow behind. (RICH ADDICKS/AJC file)

07/21/2020 - Atlanta, Georgia - Willie A. Watkins stands for a portrait at the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta's West End community, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)

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Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., was one of the high-profile figures whose services were handled by Watkins Funeral Home. They say her multi-day services in 2006 were a pinnacle for their funeral home. (AJC file)

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