WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. President George W. Bush and his three predecessors joined more than 10,000 mourners Tuesday at the funeral service for Coretta Scott King, the "first lady of civil rights."

From bottom to top, President George Bush, first lady Laura Bush, former President Bill Clinton, his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), former President George H.W. Bush, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn attend funeral services for Coretta Scott King at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, Feb. 7. (Reuters)

    Lauding King as "one of the most admired Americans of our time," Bush told the crowd that filled New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Lithonia, Ga., for King's funeral.

    He said King not only secured the legacy of her husband, late U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King, but also "built her own."

    Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said the King couple "overcame one of the greatest challenges of life, which is to be able to wage a fierce struggle for freedom and justice and to do it peacefully."

    Former Presidents George W. H. Bush and Bill Clinton were also present.

    King died one week ago due to a stroke at the age of 78.

    More than 160,000 mourners have waited in long lines to pay their respects at public viewings since King's body was returned to Georgia -- on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband preached in the 1960s, at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church on Tuesday morning, and during the weekend at the Georgia Capitol, where King became the first woman and the first black person to lie in honor there.

US President George W. Bush speaks at funeral services for Coretta Scott King at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia Feb. 7. (Reuters)

    Coretta Scott married Martin Luther King in 1953 and immediately supported his equal rights campaign, often speaking on his behalf when he was unable to attend an engagement.

    Four days after Martin Luther King's assassination on April 4, 1968, Coretta Scott King led an equal rights march by 50,000 people.

    While raising four children, she campaigned fiercely over the years to keep alive her husband's message of nonviolent change, which eventually earned her the reputation as the "first lady of civil rights." Enditem