Billy Graham’s Remains to Lie in Honor at U.S. Capitol

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (L) speaks with the Reverend Billy Graham during a visit to the Graham cabin in Montreat, N.C., on Oct. 11, 2012. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The remains of Rev. Billy Graham, who died Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the age of 99, will “lie in honor” at the U.S. Capitol before a funeral in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to reports.

A private funeral will be held for Graham at noon on Friday, March 2, a family spokesperson told WSOC-TV.

His body was moved from the funeral home to the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville.

According to the Citizen-Times, he will be just the fourth person to lay in honor at the Capitol Rotunda. It follows Rosa Parks in 2005 as well as Officer Jacob Chestnut Jr. and Detective John Gibson, who both worked for the U.S. Capitol Police in 1998 and were killed by an assailant.

Officials said Thursday that the public can pay their respects to Graham at the Rotunda next Wednesday. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take part in a service when his casket arrives, the report stated.

Reports say that Graham died in his sleep at his Montreat home.

“In addition to spreading the gospel to millions around the world, Rev. Graham served as a spiritual adviser to countless American presidents, and an inspiration to millions,” U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry said in a statement, via the Citizen-Times. ”In light of this work and his years of service to the United States, it is wholly befitting for our nation to honor Rev. Graham by according the honors of Laying in Honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. As Rev. Graham’s representative in Washington, I’m honored and humbled to introduce the resolution to do just that.”

Later, he will be buried in the Prayer Garden next to his wife Ruth, who died in 2007.

Graham passed away on Feb. 21 after a long life that included spreading evangelical Christianity to the mainstream and being the spiritual adviser to a number of presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower.

“People who saw him on TV or during one of his crusades might think there’s no way he could be that good and straightforward in real life,” his nephew, Deryl Graham, said of his uncle after his passing, according to USA Today. “But he was. He was meek, and he was honest, and he was pure. He wouldn’t even get into an elevator with a woman alone, because he didn’t want to be accused of anything scandalous.”

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