Friends, family honor Clementa Pinckney at Ridgeland church viewing (+ video)
It would not have been hard for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney's voice to carry through the modest, brick church where he learned to preach.
Though rich in history and spirit, St. John AME Church in Ridgeland is small. Pinckney's presence was anything but that, even as a child first learning the word of God.
On Thursday afternoon, though, there was no preaching inside Pinckney's hometown church. His return to St. John -- just down the road from Pinckney's old home off Bees Creek Road -- was met with deafening silence as hundreds of people shuffled past the church's worn, green pews to pay their respects to the slain pastor.
Pinckney's wife, children and family, along with mourners who came from as near Tillman Road and as far as New York, moved through the church for about five hours at the viewing for Pinckney, who was gunned down at his Emanuel AME Church in Charleston along with eight others last week.
Some knelt and prayed for a moment at the open casket. In one hand was a microphone to honor Pinckney's memorable voice and powerful words.
Most people moved past quickly, making room for the continuous stream of visitors whose cars lined Tillman Road for more than a quarter mile.
Flanking Pinckney's casket were St. John pastor Gregory Kinsey, Jasper County Sheriff Gregory Jenkins and state Rep. Kenneth Hodges, a Green Pond Democrat and pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort.
Hodges stood still and did not wipe the tears resting on his cheeks.
Some others, Rev. Adunnola Waterman-French among them, lost their composure for a moment in the sanctuary.
Waterman-French had traveled from Brooklyn, where she is pastor of St. Paul AME Church, to see her Allen University classmate.
"The love he had for his community was evident," she said. "That love was there. He was definitely a statesman, a gentleman, a child of God."
BACK TO RIDGELAND
An hour before the viewing began, the line of visitors already stretched around the corner of Tillman Road and Floyd Street.
Angela Brazeal was among them, having left her home in Dublin, Ga., about two hours earlier. She'd decided to come the night before, after broadcasts of Wednesday's procession through the Statehouse in Columbia prompted her to pick up the phone and call her sister.
"I said, 'Let's go,'" recalled Brazeal, a member of an AME Church.
Francina Brazeal had been thinking the same thing.
"For me, I feel like I'm at home," Angela Brazeal said as she waited alongside Ridgeland and Beaufort natives. "It just feels like family."
A small delegation also came from Mt. Horr AME Church on Yonges Island, where Pinckney was pastor for about eight years.
Mt. Horr members live closer to Charleston's Mother Emanuel, where a viewing was held Thursday nigh. Pinckney's funeral will be held at TD Arena at the College of Charleston on Friday.
However, members opted to travel to the more intimate setting of their former pastor's hometown.
It was a bittersweet trip for the group, which had made annual treks to Ridgeland for church retreats while Pinckney was their leader.
One year, Mt. Horr went to Myrtle Beach instead, but the members didn't like it, Glenemae E.A. Johnson said.
The next year, it was back to Ridgeland, which beckoned with home cooking from Pinckney's aunt Mary, Johnson said.
"When this happened, it hit me right in my heart," Mt. Horr leader Luchion Green said. "He was a wonderful person."
'A FULL LIFE STORY'
A group of Pinckney's childhood classmates also arrived early, one of them carrying a resolution from the Ridgeland High School Class of 1991 in loving memory of their friend.
Derek Morgan, of Columbia, says Pinckney was a preacher since kindergarten, wearing slacks to grade school and a tie to high school.
"He was what you call an 'old head' at the tender age of 13," said Geraldine Dawson, who taught Pinckney's gifted and talented class at Ridgeland Middle School.
The class of 1991, though, embraced his quirks, which came with a passion for his fellow students.
He served as Student Government Association president and student of the year and participated in a school fraternity, chorus and Future Leaders of America, Morgan said.
His actions on June 17 -- driving from Columbia to Charleston for a church planning meeting and then staying for a late Bible study -- exemplified his devotion to others, Morgan said.
"I believe he fulfilled his purpose and his destiny," he said. "To leave this world still with people in his foresight, I believe that's a full life story."
Also reflecting on Pinckney's final day was Frank Reisz, who was president of the Luthern Theological Southern Seminary when Pinckney was studying for his master's of divinity.
Reisz, now of Sun City, said he thinks much of Charleston's swift and peaceful response to the massacre was inspired by Pinckney and other pastors like him.
"They knew what to do. They'd been through adversity before, they'd been trained by their pastors. It's amazing and it continues to be amazing," Reisz said, adding, "This church must have really formed him."
It did, Pinckney's family said.
But even earlier, his mother -- day-care provider Theopia Stevenson Aikens -- sparked his love of God with her own spirit.
She would lead her charges in singing, "Read your Bible, Pray every day, And you'll grow, grow, grow," having Pinckney and the others sprout from the ground with arms outstretched until they were reaching for the sky, said Hilda Stevenson-Stewart, Pinckney's cousin.
For the past 10 years, Pinckney stayed with Stevenson-Stewart on his trips home to Ridgeland.
Pain crossed her face Thursday as she thought of the last call he made to her, a call she'd missed, two days before the fatal shooting. After drawing a deep breath, she said Pinckney would be proud of Jasper County for the grace its residents have shown.
"You can't hate. You cannot judge people," Stevenson-Stewart said. "You've got to love."
This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 12:23 AM with the headline "Friends, family honor Clementa Pinckney at Ridgeland church viewing (+ video)."