MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On April 3, 1968, the day before Martin Luther King Jr. died, Robert Stevenson Lewis met the civil rights leader for the first time – at a stop light.
The owner of R.S. Lewis & Sons, Memphis' top black funeral home, Lewis offered his chauffer and finest Cadillac to King to us during his stay.
But a little more than 24 hours later, it would be Lewis himself driving a white 1966 Cadillac Superior Royale Coach hearse with a black top to St. Joseph's Hospital to pick up King’s body to take to his funeral home.
The bullet that felled King hit him in the chin, destroying his face. Lewis was charged with preparing and embalming the body for the trip back to Atlanta, where there would likely be a closed casket funeral.
RELATED STORIES:
- 'The Last Days of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.' (WATCH)
- Dr. King's son teaches local kids about his father's legacy
- Memphis prepares to honor Dr. King on 50th anniversary
Instead, Robert Stevenson Lewis and his brother Clarence E. Lewis worked on King’s body for 13 hours. By the morning of April 5, a line of mourners stretched through the streets of Memphis waiting to see King’s body – in an open casket.
"He wanted to do something on behalf of Memphis, for the people of Memphis who loved Dr. King," said Richard Flowers, who was mentored under the Lewis brothers and still works at the funeral home. "He never tried to get any accolades from it. He just wanted to do a good job and honor King."
Read more about R.S. Lewis and the role his funeral home played in the last days of King's life on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News' "Honoring MLK.com."