1,500 Gather to Say Good-Bye to Evelyn Lowery
Some 1,500 people gathered today on the Morehouse College campus to say good-bye to Evelyn Lowery, wife of Reverend Joseph Lowery and a civil rights pioneer in her own right. Mrs. Lowery died last week at the age of 88.
The broadcast version of this story
Evelyn Lowery’s three daughters sang as part of her homegoing celebration, a three-hour service that emphasized not only her close relationship with her husband of 67 years but also her individual strength.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was one of several dignitaries who spoke at the service. “It is so often said in this world that behind every great man there is a great woman. Rev. Dr. Joseph Echols Lowery is indeed a great man. And her life’s work will ensure that Evelyn Gibson Lowery will be remembered as a great woman in her own right,” said Reed. “But I do not believe that anyone who knew her and her own story would say that she was behind anybody.”
Rev. Joseph Lowery appeared frail: he arrived at the service in a wheelchair. But he raised his arms and held one of his daughter’s hands during one of the hymns.
Rev. Al Sharpton saluted both of the Lowerys, telling the congregation, “She fought in the heat of the day. And she stood shoulder to shoulder with one of the greatest civil rights leaders that we will ever know.”
Mrs. Lowery’s grandchildren served as her pallbearers, placing her wooden casket into a horse drawn carriage. She was laid to rest at Westview Cemetery.
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