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.
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