"She flew out of the front door with me at her side and drove quickly to King's house, where a bomb had been thrown into the front room," she said. "A big policeman shouted at the group of 20 or so people who had gathered in front of the house, 'Get back! All you people get back!' "
Mrs. DeCosta steadfastly refused to obey the police officer's orders.
"Mother, who was 5' 4" and weighed 120 pounds, stood her ground. She was the only one who refused to move back," Dr. DeCosta-Willis said. "That was a powerful example to me of courage, and it was an image that I carried with me through my own participation in the civil rights struggle."
In 1957, the couple moved to Baltimore and settled into a home on Elsinore Avenue. Her husband was the founding dean of the graduate school at Morgan State University.
From 1962 to 1963, when her husband was on assignment with the U.S. State Department in Kaduna, Nigeria, Mrs. DeCosta served with the Nigerian Red Cross, volunteered with the Ministry of Social Welfare and organized the International Women's Club.
Mr. DeCosta died in 1968. In 1972, she married Richard Lee, a city school administrator, who died in 1998.
"My mother, a social worker, world traveler and humanist, loved people from different cultures," her daughter said.
Mrs. DeCosta-Lee worked as a social worker for Baltimore City public schools and later was a caseworker for the city welfare department.
At the time of her retirement in 1976, she was regional specialist of pupil services for city public schools.
Mrs. DeCosta-Lee was an avid collector of African-American art, which she donated to Morgan State University.
She was active in Democratic politics, and enjoyed traveling, reading and attending the theater and concerts.
The former Northwest Baltimore resident moved to Washington in 2005, and two years later settled in Memphis to be near her daughter.
In 1999, Mrs. DeCosta-Lee wrote in a letter to her daughter outlining instructions for her funeral.
"By the way, don't let my pastor say a word. I have not spoken to him since 1970 when he was on the wrong side of a political issue," Mrs. DeCosta-Lee wrote. "I go to church regularly (he does preach a good sermon) because I have many church friends to greet, then I go out the side door."
Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Arbutus Memorial Park, 1101 Sulphur Spring Road.
Also surviving are a sister, Mamie E. Russell of Silver Spring; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Her son, Frank A. DeCosta Jr., an attorney, died in 1999.
