MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -
Reverend Doctor Samuel "Billy" Kyles has died, according to his family.
Kyles was the last person to see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s alive. Kyles' said it was a day he would never forget.
"It's so fresh in my mind. I guess it always will be," he said in a 2008 interview with WMC Action News 5.
Kyles was part of the Civil Rights movement for more than 50 years.
In 1968, he helped form the effort to gain community support for striking sanitation workers. He was also instrumental in bringing Dr. King to Memphis.
"He was that symbol, Martin was, that drew us together and taught us how to dream," Kyles said.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was planning to eat dinner at Rev. Kyles house the evening of his assassination. Kyles was there and witnessed the tragic event that took Dr. King's life.
Rev. Kyles was also featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary, "The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306."
"I think he'd [King] be pleased with the progress, but not satisfied," Kyles said.
In 1961, Kyles was head of NAACP's education committee. He was part of the bold plan to begin desegregation in Memphis.
"In my own case, my daughter was 5 years old and I have to give some thought to putting a 5-year-old in that position, but we said, 'Well, it's got to be done. If it has to be done, we will do it.'"
His daughter, Dwania, was one of 13 first graders known as the Memphis 13.
"I was like, OK, where are the other kids that [sic] look like me?" Dwania Kyles said in a 2011 interview.
In 2014, at 80 years old, Kyles stood at the pulpit and preached his final sermon at Monumental Baptist Church. He founded the church at age 17 and left behind a 55-year legacy as the church's leader.
His wife, Aurelia, said it was his calling.
"He didn't see the distinction between his ministry in the church and his involvement in the Civil Rights movement," Aurelia Kyles said in 2014.
At the church, you can see photos of the couple with the Dalai Lama, President Bill Clinton, and Nelson Mandela.
His wife recalled his commitment to the pulpit, despite bomb threats.
"We will never close," she said. "Even if it means I'm by myself."
