MLK Jr. Event Jan. 18: "His Dream, My Reality"

In observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, Limestone College will host the program “His Dream, My Reality” at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 18, at Fullerton Auditorium.

There is no admission charge and the public is invited to attend. The 13th-annual program is being produced through a partnership with Limestone College and the Cherokee County MLK Committee.

“His Dream, My Reality” will feature guest speaker Reverend Sharon Risher, the daughter of Ethel Lance, who was killed last year in the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston on June 17. Risher is a clinical trauma chaplain in Dallas, TX.

“I hold on to the fact that my mother died in a place of faith, a place my mother dedicated her life to,” Risher said in an interview a short time after the shooting.

Lance, 70, was one of nine victims of the shooting at Emanuel AME Church. She was a mother of five, and the matriarch of the family after her husband died in 1988. Described as a caretaker by nature, she took pride in her work as a custodian at her church, and at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, where she retired in 2002 after 34 years.

During her funeral eulogy, Reverend Norvell Goff, the interim pastor of Emanuel AME, described Lance as a “faithful friend” with an “infectious smile,” who dedicated her life to her family and the church.

“She was at the church seven days of the week. I believe if God gave her eight she would have been there eight days a week,” he said. “Mother Emanuel was deep down in her spirit, her soul.”

Goff told those who attended the funeral that Lance was part of a greater purpose that was now “bringing folks together and not separating them.”

A luncheon will follow the program on Jan. 18 at 12:30 p.m. at Stephenson Dining Hall. Tickets for the luncheon are $15 each and can be purchased in advance only by calling Jessie Manning at (864) 489-8245 or at (864) 219-0517. Luncheon tickets will not be sold at the door.

ACCOMPANYING PHOTO: Reverend Sharon Risher holds an image of Ethel Lance, who was shot and killed at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, to be photographed before President Barack Obama arrived in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, to speak about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence. (Associated Press Photo)