CHAPTER 25
His Name was Howard Thurman
On Wednesday evening, the chapel at Powers Funeral Home played host to one of the wakes for the late Reverend James Nelson Austin. At the start of the wake, the Austin sisters and Nelson, Jr., first embraced Liza at the front of the chapel, and then they all sat in the front row. Members of a variety of organizations stood up before those gathered in the chapel and spoke about Nelson.
“How,” Priscilla whispered to her siblings, “can Momma stand this exhibition?” But none of them answered her.
After a while, Helen whispered, “Don’t you find all this a little strange? Here we sit at Daddy’s wake, when, in the past, he was the one who would conduct these services for other families. I keep expecting to see him walk up to us and say something.”
Her s
