FILE - In this May 9, 2003 file photo, the Rev. Billy Graham quiets the crowd during the second day of his Mission San Diego revival at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)
ASHEVILLE, N.C., February 24 (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham’s body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers.
The procession begins late Saturday morning with a ceremonial departure from a mountain chapel at the training center operated by his evangelistic association in Asheville and ends in the afternoon at Graham’s library in Charlotte.
Crowds are expected to watch the procession pass through the town of Black Mountain as it leaves the training center on its way to the interstate for the approximately 130 mile (210 KM) journey. Graham often shopped or caught trains in Black Mountain, next to the community of Montreat where he maintained his home.
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FILE - In this June 25, 2005 file photo, former President Bill Clinton, left, speaks alongside the Rev. Billy Graham on the second night of the Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)[/caption]
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FILE - In this Oct. 24, 1976 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham, 57, of Montreat, N.C., holds his bible while gesturing during the final service of the 10-day Southeastern Michigan Crusade at Pontiac Stadium, in Pontiac, Mich. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (AP Photo/Richard Scheinwald, File)[/caption]
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FILE - In this March 12, 1955 file photo, the Rev. Billy Graham stands with his wife Ruth Graham as he waves from the liner Liberte in New York, before departing on a European preaching tour. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (AP Photo, File)[/caption]
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FILE - In this April 10, 2006 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham, foreground left, is applauded by former first lady Barbara Bush and former President George Bush after receiving the 2006 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (Butch Ireland/College Station Eagle via AP, File)[/caption]
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FILE - In this June 27, 1954 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham speaks to over 100,000 Berliners at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, at his home in North Carolinas mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television. Grahams body will be brought to his hometown of Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of a procession expected to draw crowds of well-wishers. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch, File)[/caption]
Authorities in North Carolina’s largest city, where Graham grew up, are also making preparations with designated viewing areas for well-wishers when the procession ends there.
The procession is part of more than a week of mourning for “America’s Pastor,” culminating with his burial next week at his library in Charlotte.
Graham, who died Wednesday at his home in North Carolina’s mountains at age 99, reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world with his rallies and his pioneering use of television.
A viewing will be held at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte on Monday and Tuesday.
Graham will also lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week, on Feb. 28 and March 1, the first time a private citizen has been accorded such recognition since civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005.
He will be laid to rest March 2 at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, buried in a simple prison-made plywood coffin next to his wife, Ruth, who died in 2007. His coffin was built by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, who typically construct caskets for fellow prisoners who cannot afford one.
The funeral will be held in a tent in the main parking lot of Graham’s library in tribute to the 1949 Los Angeles tent revivals that propelled him to international fame, family spokesman Mark DeMoss said. About 2,000 people are expected at the private, invitation-only funeral.
