From Hilda S. Proctor
Author: Proctor, Hilda S.
Date: December 31, 1958
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Family
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Travels
Details
Proctor replies to King's 22 December letter.
Dear Martin:
Happy New Year to you all! I hope it will bring to fruition many of the ideals and conditions for which you are dedicating yourself.
Thanks, so much, for the nice letter with enclosure.
I am real disturbed to hear that you might go off to India frustrated because of the backlog of work. I am tempted to take the next flight to Montgomery and do what I can in my small way to alleviate the situation.
Since I cannot do that right now, why don't you and Maud[e Ballou] get together and select a batch of stuff that you think I could do and mail it to me. I will get right on it, mixing it with formulas and baby, new baby sitting (had a fine grand son on the 18th of December), and I will take care of the work pronto and return it to you.
If I do 100 letters between now and the time you leave for India that will peel down the pile a little won't it?
AND I WOULD LIKE TO DO IT AS ANY FRIEND WOULD DO WHO IS INTERESTED IN GETTING YOU OFF TO INDIA. I shall donate my services to the cause.
Please do this. Of course, as usual, all your work will be held in the strictest confidence.
PLEASE LET ME HELP BECAUSE I STILL FEEL AS THOUGH I AM YOUR SECRETARY WITHOUT PORTFOLIO, SECRETARY AT LARGE, SECRETARY ON 'MATERNITY' LEAVE, not mine, of course.
Tell Coretta I liked the spread of her in EBONY.1
Cordially yours,
[signed] Hilda
1. The complimentary profile stated that Coretta Scott King endured "through three, peril fraught years" and "stands today as a symbol of the successful Montgomery protest, which was so largely a victory for countless maids and mothers." Commenting for the article, King praised his wife's composure and forbearance: "She has maintained a calmness that has kept me going. She sees the greatness of the movement and has a unique willingness to sacrifice herself for its continuation" ("The Woman Behind Martin Luther King," Ebony, January 1959, pp. 33-38).
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.