Wednesday, May 28, 2008

King's First Grandchild is Born

The first grandchild of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is a girl. A family spokeswoman says Arndrea Waters King, wife of Martin Luther King III, gave birth to Yolanda Renee King on Sunday at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. The mother and baby are reported to be healthy. The baby was named after her aunt, Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest daughter Yolanda, who died in May 2007, Tarver says. Martin Luther King III married shortly after his mother's death in January 2006, but the wedding was not made public until this year. He wis the first of Martin Luther King Jr.'s four children to marry and the first to have a child.

The newborn weighed in at 7.5 pounds. Her birth comes two years and two days after her parents were married. "We are excited about our precious gift from God and cannot express how fortunate we feel to have our beautiful baby girl. It is truly the happiest day of our lives. I know my parents are smiling down from heaven," the new father said in the statement released on Sunday.

5 comments:

The Rock Chick said...

Awwww...congrats to them! That's a very pretty name, too! I'm actually surprised that this is his first grandchild. I don't know why, but his kids have to be at least as old as I am. Seems strange that none of them had children before now. I don't think I realized that before.

Lori said...

Interesting. Based on a few photos I saw in Jet Magazine, I thought she was expecting when they married. Perhaps they were already legally wed and just had a ceremony? In any case, I wish them the very best. It is a shame Mrs. King (Coretta) didn't live long enough to hold her first grandbabe.

In a book club meeting years ago, we discussed how strange it was that none of the King children had ever been married or had any kids, particularly that handsome Dexter King (smile).

pjazzypar said...

RC,

All of his children are older than you, but for some reason none of them were ever married. Not that you have to be married to have children. His youngest daughter is a minister and his oldest daughter was in her fifties when she died.

Lori,

A friend and I had that same conversation about the King children never being married. I met a woman at a colloquial almost 2 years ago and she alluded to the fact that Dexter was a bit of a playboy and he did in fact have at least one child out of wedlock. However this has never come to light publicly.

X. Dell said...

Interesting. Dr. King was born in 1929. You'd reckon he would have had a grandkid by now. My cousin was born in 1968, and he has two grandkids.

We can only hope that the new apple doesn't fall far from the family tree.

pjazzypar said...

X.Dell, when you wait to marry and have kids at fifty you are bound to have some really old grandparents in the mix. Martin Luther King III is old enough to be the child's grandfather himself at 50.