Xernona Clayton Celebrates 80 Years with a Festive Birthday Bash in Las Vegas

[Pasadena, CA - August 28, 2010] Xernona Clayton, the founder of the Trumpet Awards and Civil Rights Walk of Fame celebrated her 80th birthday in the grand style that she is accustomed to and deserving of. The adviser, confidant and personal assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, was mentor to entertainment and Civil Rights giants, who also worked as Vice President of Urban Affairs at CNN under Ted Turner, held a two-day event to celebrate her birthday in Las Vegas, last weekend. Ms. Clayton was surrounded by those who love her and have looked to her for advice and counsel since the days when she was the first on air African American television host in the south.

Clayton, the daughter of a Baptist preacher, started her celebration on with a salute to African American preachers and ministers who have given much to their communities across America and the world. Her unselfish style of recognizing others who have given so much to the people they serve was evident when she paid tribute to God's messengers with a breakfast with the Lord's Leaders by "giving honor to whom honor is due."

The list of ministerial luminaries included Reverend Jim Holley, Ph.D., of Detroit, Michigan whose ministry is based on the philosophy of serving the needs of the people beyond the pulpit; Ms. Christine Johnson, mother of Magic Johnson, was honored for her ministry in Lansing, Michigan. She says that her ministry was magnified and enhanced by Magic's illness and survival through her prayers. Her ministry says that Magic's survival is evidence for the world of what God can do. Gospel music man, Dr. Bobby Jones, a class mate of Xernona's at Tennessee State, has one of the longest running gospel television shows where he spreads the gospel through music.

Others honored included, Dr. Carlton Byrd of Atlanta, Georgia; Reverend G. Mansfield Collins of Los Angeles; Actor, Minister, Reverend Clifton Davis, a regular at Xernona's events; Dr. Carlton Byrd of Atlanta, Georgia; Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles, Civil Rights activists of Memphis, Tennessee who was with Dr. King during the Memphis garbage strikes and on that fateful day at the Lorraine Motel; Reverend Paul Martin of Quartz, California; Bishop Vashti McKenzie; Bishop Rudolph W. Mckissick, Jr.; and Reverend Joe Ratliff of Houston, Texas. A rare treat was when Ms. Clayton introduced her childhood pastor from Muskogee, Oklahoma who shared that her birth was a prayer answered.

Reverend Berniece King, Dr. King's youngest daughter, was there to say thanks to "Aunt" Xernona for all of her help through the losses of her father, her mother and more recently her sister. She said Xernona's love was the fruit of the spirit and credited her with being the stabilizing force in her life after her mother, Coretta Scott King, passed.

Also honored was Father Michael L. Pfleger, the Catholic Priest of Chicago, known for his colorful, vehement defense of then candidate Barack Obama in the campaign against Hillary Clinton. He told Clayton that her life was the gospel lived. Reverend Dr. Barbara Reynolds who was the first woman news commentator for network and cable news and an opinion writer for "USA Today", and former Civil Rights leader, ambassador, and mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young, was honored as was Reverend Hilton O. Smith for his work in Cleveland, Ohio and Ms. Tammy Trent from Nashville, Tennessee whose ministry grew out a trip to the beach where she kissed her husband goodbye and watched helplessly as he walked into the ocean, never to return.

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