BOSTON?Yolanda King, the eldest daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., recalled Monday that her father long expected that he wouldn’t live past age 40.

That expectation came true on April 4, 1968, when James Earl Ray shot King at a Memphis motel, one day after he predicted his own death. He was speaking to support city sanitation workers who were striking.

He was 39.

“He was as prepared as he could ever be,” Ms. King said. “He was very much at peace with what he said. I don’t know if he knew it would be the next day.”

Ms. King was the keynote speaker at Boston’s annual MLK Memorial Breakfast.

Celebrations of the federal King holiday were planned around the nation.

In Atlanta, first lady Laura Bush was to speak at Ebenezer Baptist Church where King?who would have turned 73 last Tuesday?once preached.