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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 223 ~ 29 of 52
reopens next week.
“I am going to come back strong with my friends and show that we love each other so much and we
are going to get through this,” she said.
Larry Dorce, a 17-year-old junior at nearby J.P. Taravella High, carried a picket sign reading, “Would the
gun be worth it if it were your own child?”
“They may be our rivals, our so-called rivals, but they are our sister school and we felt their pain,” he
said. “The day after the shooting, you could feel the fear in the air (at Taravella) and I never want anyone to feel that again.”
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Spencer reported from Parkland, Florida. Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Miami, Joe Reedy in Tallahassee and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg contributed to this report.
Procession planned for ‘America’s Pastor,’ Rev. Billy Graham By RACHEL ZOLL and JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press
MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham, the magnetic, movie-star-handsome preacher who became a singular force in postwar American religious life, a con dant of presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. He was 99.
“America’s Pastor,” as he was dubbed, died at 7:46 a.m. Wednesday at his home, where only an attend- ing nurse was present, said Mark DeMoss, spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Both the nurse and Graham’s longtime personal physician, Dr. Lucian Rice, who arrived about 20 minutes later, said it was “a peaceful passing,” DeMoss said. Graham had suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments.
More than anyone else, Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the U.S. His leadership summits and crusades in more than 185 countries and ter- ritories forged powerful global links among conservative Christians and threw a lifeline to believers in the communist bloc.
Tributes to Graham poured in from major leaders, with President Donald Trump tweeting: “The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.” Former President Barack Obama said Graham “gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans.”
A tall, striking man with thick, swept-back hair, stark blue eyes and a rm jaw, Graham was a command- ing presence in the pulpit, with a powerful baritone voice.
“The Bible says,” was his catchphrase. His unquestioning belief in Scripture turned the Gospel into a “rapier” in his hands, he said.
Graham reached multitudes around the globe through public appearances and his pioneering use of prime-time telecasts, network radio, daily newspaper columns, evangelistic lms and satellite TV hookups. By his nal crusade in 2005 in New York City, he had preached in person to more than 210 million people
worldwide. No evangelist is expected to have his level of in uence again.
“William Franklin Graham Jr. can safely be regarded as the best who ever lived at what he did,” said
William Martin, author of the Graham biography “A Prophet With Honor.”
Graham’s body was moved Wednesday from his home in Montreat to Asheville, where a funeral home is
handling the arrangements, DeMoss said. His body will be taken from Asheville to Charlotte on Saturday in a procession expected to take 3 1⁄2 hours and ending at the Billy Graham Museum and Library. He will lie in repose Monday and Tuesday in the Charlotte house where he grew up, which was moved from its original location to the grounds of the Graham library. A private funeral for Graham will be held on Friday, March 2, in a tent at the library site and he will be buried next to his wife there, DeMoss said. Invitations to the funeral will be extended to President Donald Trump and former presidents, DeMoss said.
DeMoss said Graham spent his nal months in and out of consciousness. He said Graham didn’t take any phone calls or entertain guests. DeMoss quoted Dr. Rice as saying, “He just wore out.”