CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MRS. MURIEL DURLEY AND OTHER ICONS! By Maynard Eaton, Managing Editor
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adly, we have already lost a long list of luminaries in 2021. They read like a Who’s Who of revered African American activists, athletes, and actors. They include legends like MLB home run king, Hank Aaron; former heavyweight boxing titleholder, Leon Spinks; middleweight champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler; NBA Hall of Famer, Elgin Baylor; NFL player and broadcaster Irv Cross, Hall of Fame Temple basketball coach John Chaney; actress Cicely Tyson, actor Douglas Turner Ward, jazz vocalist/pianist Freddie Cole, The Supremes singer Mary Wilson, Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings, Atlanta Voice editor-in-chief Marshall Latimore; Atlanta Student Movement founder Lonnie King, and Vernon Jordon, a top-flight businessman, civil rights leader and close advisor to President Bill Clinton, among others. Those are all prominent Black Lives That Mattered! And, while she may not have been a nationally known figure akin to those previously mentioned, Muriel West Durley was an authentic heroine, who for 53 years, partnered with renowned minister, civil rights activist, and environmental justice movement leader Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley. Her life mattered to him and many others. The couple were also longtime friends, collaborators and confidantes to SCLC President Dr. Charles Steele and his wife Cathelean. Out of a personal fondness and professional respect for them both, Dr. Steele attended the January 15th funeral. “I will always remember her beautiful smile,” Dr. Steele tells me about Muriel Durley during a lull in her memorial service. “Yes, they were a civil rights family. We marched many a march together. He was always there. I have to respect the fact that when you come to Atlanta, there are so many leaders, they’re so many activists, and so many people trying to do God’s work, but they chose to support me regardless of all the other leaders.” “Today is the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.”, observed Rev. Timothy McDonald, a 33-year long friend, and former Atlanta Concerned Black Clergy President. “We can live, even in death. Character is who you are when ain’t nobody watching; that’s Muriel Durley. We can learn so much from her life, and we can learn even more from her death.” In concert with her husband, Muriel Durley, proved to be a savvy political powerbroker in Atlanta and the segregated South during her captivating church and community career. That’s why Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and newly elected Georgia Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock applauded her impactful life and contributions in video tributes. They were cognizant that their comments would be resonant with their constituents and national political/human rights leaders because of Muriel’s mystique, muscle and moxie. “She always carried herself with such dignity and such grace,” opined Mayor Bottoms. “And, I always admired not just her outward beauty, but most importantly her inner beauty.” “When we think about the ministry of this couple across the years and decades in this city and across the country we are inspired” added Sen Warnock, the pastor of MLK’s famous Ebenezer Baptist Church. “We bless the memory of Sister Muriel – a woman of God who loves the church – cultured, educated and polished in every way. She was a friend of the poor and disposed. Yet she was at home among those who possessed power and influence. She never lost the common touch.”
“Muriel was regal, elegant, refined and yet down to earth”, eloquently added Imam Plemon El-Amin,
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