VALDOSTA — A parade has been planned for Saturday to honor Valdosta’s first Black council member on her 90th birthday.

The parade, honoring Ruth K. Council, will start at 3 p.m. Saturday on Ruth Council Drive — named for her in 2015 — and proceed onto Bunche Drive, where she now lives, said her daughter, Lynette Council.

Because of high heat, Ms. Council will be watching from inside her home, her daughter said. The National Weather Service said Valdosta can expect a high of 98 degrees Saturday.

“(Her mother) has good days and bad days,” Lynette Council said.

She ran for office in 1974, served a two-year term, was reelected in 1976 for four years and became mayor pro-tem in 1980.

Council ran for the Valdosta City Council in a time when the area was divided by skin color. “You stay your way and we’ll stay our way,” she said of residents’ thoughts at the time. “You live in your community and I’ll live in my community. You just stayed in your race. You knew what was the practice.”

Council taught for Valdosta City Schools, winning Teacher of the Year at W.G. Nunn Elementary School. She eventually became a curriculum director and a school principal.

Alongside her husband, George Ralph Council, she formed the Valdosta-Lowndes County Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee. The organization holds annual tributes to the civil rights pioneer. She was also a charter member of the Leadership Lowndes group and was inducted into the Valdosta State University Educators Hall of Fame.

“I say to young people, offer yourself. People will help you,” Ruth Council said in a past interview. “You’re not going to go into anything knowing everything but just offer yourself and accept help, and you’ll be surprised at what you can do. That’s in most things,” she said.