Big celebration planned for fall

Only 10 Lowery family members will attend his funeral this week.

The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, the civil rights leader who died Friday, will be honored at a huge event this fall. The coronavirus outbreak has put limits on public gatherings for now.

Joseph Lowery loved a good party.

As he grew older, each of the civil rights leader’s milestone birthdays was celebrated with a major party, often attracting the likes of an Aretha Franklin,

Jamie Foxx, Chris Tucker, Harry Belafonte or Dick Gregory.

He would have turned 99 on Oct. 6, and his family wants to keep up the tradition.

Prevented from having a public funeral for Lowery, who died Friday at the age of 98, his family is planning a huge event for him this fall.

“We know that our country and our world is going to get through these trying times,” said

Cheryl Lowery, the executive director of the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute. “And when we do, we will honor Dr. Lowery and his legacy together as a community in a manner that he deserves and as he pretty much planned.”

Later this week, the charismatic pastor — whose passing was marked by everyone from a former president to a college student who said that Lowery once fed him — will be laid to rest.

Because of the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations on social distancing — limiting contacts and avoiding crowds — to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, only 10 family members will attend the private service.

“We struggled with what we should share about the when and where of our private service, but keeping people safe is our most important consideration,” said Cheryl Lowery, his youngest daughter.

The Lowery family’s decision to have a small funeral for such an iconic figure matches the choices that families across the country are making amid the pandemic.

Funeral homes have altered the way they handle how loved ones say goodbye.

Some are offering only graveside services. Some are not providing rides.

Traditional visitations and viewings are not being conducted.

“We ask your continued prayers for us and for so many families across the globe that are grieving separate from their support system,” Cheryl Lowery said. “It is just not natural for us to be apart.”

The Reverend Joseph Lowery had planned for his 99th birthday on Oct. 6.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM The Reverend Joseph Lowery looks on as a surprise birthday cake is rolled out at the end of his 94th birthday celebration and fundraising event for the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights in 2015.