As Rochesterians commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a city woman is recalling the day 50 years ago when she met the civil rights leader.
Gilda Goings was 13-years old. She said the meeting took place at a church in Savannah, Georgia, where her mother was active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Today, Goings works as a spiritual life coordinator for Heritage Christian Services. She says she spoke to children at a day care there about the Dr. King's dream. “I looked at those beautiful faces and we saw black, yellow, white and red little kids all sitting together. He didn’t get to see the dream fulfilled, but it is fulfilled today that they can sit together and work together and love each other and not look at the color of each other’s skin, but at the content of their character.”
Goings said she remembered Dr. King as a godly man who was a preacher first and a civil rights activist who answered a calling.
