Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News Detroit artist Willie Harris holds his pastel painting of Rosa Parks as he waits in line to pay his respects at Wright museum Tuesday.

Doves' release to mark history

The 50 white birds to fly over cemetery will symbolize the five decades since Parks' act.

By Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News

About the funeral The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. at Greater Grace Temple, 23500 West 7 Mile Road in Detroit. Doors will open at 9 a.m. for the church's 5,000 seats. The funeral is open to the public, but parking at the church lot is limited to mourners with special passes. Several streets will close, beginning at 9 a.m., near the church. They will remain closed until the end of the service, which is expected to last until about 2 p.m. The service is expected to last three hours and will be broadcast live on local television stations, including WDIV/Local 4, Channel 2 (WJBK), and Channel 7 (WXYZ). Burial is private at Woodlawn Cemetery, 19975 Woodward, following a procession from the church. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

DETROIT -- Fifty white doves will be released to greet Rosa Parks' horse-drawn hearse when it arrives at Woodlawn Cemetery. The birds will signify the 50th anniversary of the civil rights icon's refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.

A second release of 92 doves -- celebrating Parks' age at the time of her death -- will take place following the committal service.

But the service inside a chapel at the cemetery will be private, for the family only.

The public will be contained in a roped-off area but will be able to see the doves released and hear the service from the chapel through speakers, said Bill Arlinghaus, area director of Woodlawn Cemetery. No cars outside the official funeral procession will be admitted.

"They will be able to enter the cemetery on foot and park at the Michigan State Fair across the street," he said.

As of last week, that chapel has been renamed from the Celebration of Life Chapel to the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel.

"It has not yet been officially dedicated, but it will be shortly," said Arlinghaus. "The small chapel has 70 spaces for full bodies and a number of spaces for cremated remains."

Parks originally was to be buried next to her mother and husband, who also are at Woodlawn Cemetery. Her mother, Leona McCauley, was buried there in 1979, and her husband, Raymond A. Parks, was buried there in 1977.

"We knew Mrs. Parks would be buried at Woodlawn because we already had her grave marker with her name on it," Arlinghaus said. "It was a companion market set up for three people and everything was on it except for the date of death."

Then the plans changed. Parks will be entombed in the mausoleum that now will bear her name, along with her mother and husband. Arlinghaus will not say who made the decision out of what he said was respect for the family.

"Her mother and husband's graves will be relocated to the mausoleum, but not tomorrow--at a future date," Arlinghaus said.

Federal appeals Judge Damon J. Keith, who is among those in charge of services, said the service and entombment will be historic.

"Woodlawn Cemetery has seen some of Detroit's greatest burials and services," he said. "The burial of Mother Parks will certainly be the most memorable event the cemetery has ever hosted. This is the greatest funeral and memorial service that the city of Detroit or the state of Michigan has ever witnessed."

Arlinghaus said other well-known people buried at Woodlawn include J.L Hudson; Albert Cobo, mayor of Detroit from 1950-1957; Rev. C.L. Franklin, father of award-winning singer Aretha Franklin; S.S. Kresge, who opened dime stores in Detroit in 1899; and members of the Ford, Dodge and Stroh families.

You can reach Shawn D. Lewis at (248) 647-8825 or slewis@detnews.com.