On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, June 6, 2016

Joins Together In Prayer and Celebration 

Betty Sue Griffin, right, carries flowers to leave at the childhood home of Muhammad Ali, rear, Sunday, June 5, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Ali, the magnificent heavyweight
champion whose fast fists and irrepressible personality transcended sports and captivated the world, died Friday at the age of 74.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      (AP Photo/David Goldman)

BRUCE SCHREINER                gether to mourn its most       that has done more for         his generosity. He recalled      of King Solomon before his
CLAIRE GALOFARO                celebrated son, the Lou-       this city than Muhammad        when he was raising money        death decades ago. He
Associated Press               isville Lip. Later this week,  Ali,” said the church’s as-    in the 1960s to keep a pro-      painted a mural of Jesus’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Mu-     politicians, celebrities and   sistant pastor, Charles El-    gram running to feed the         baptism that still hangs be-
hammad Ali’s younger           fans from around the globe     liott III, drawing a round of  city’s hungry, and Ali cut       hind the pulpit.
brother wept, swayed to        are expected for a Friday      “amens” and prolonged          him a check. At the time,        Muhammad Ali sometimes
hymns and hugged any-          memorial service that Ali      applause from the congre-      the program offered food         accompanied his father to
one he could reach. He         planned himself with the       gation.                        twice a week, he said.           the church, even after the
raised his hands to the sky,   intent of making it open to    Elliott recalled the comi-     “He came in and he said,         boxer had announced his
eyes closed, surrounded by     all.                           cal side of the former box-    ‘Reverend, let’s feed ‘em        conversion to Islam.
congregants at the church      Ali’s body was returned to     ing champion and global        every day. I’ll give you a       The Rev. Wanda McIntyre,
where their father once        his grieving hometown for      humanitarian, who died         check,’” the elder Elliott       who presided over the ear-
worshipped.                    the final time. An airplane    Friday night at an Arizona     said.                            ly service, said it reminded
Rahaman Ali took cen-          carrying the boxing great’s    hospital.                      The solace he found Sun-         her that he believed above
ter stage at the two-hour,     body landed Sunday after-      Elliott said his grandmother   day morning, he said, was        all in living life with toler-
high-energy service at King    noon.                          was once a nanny to Ali’s      that Ali’s suffering was final-  ance and an open heart.
Solomon Missionary Baptist     At his father’s church, the    family. He visited as a wide-  ly over. He noted that Ali’s     “Rivers, lakes, ponds,
Church, sitting in a front-    congregation stood in trib-    eyed young boy, he said,       daughter said The Great-         streams, oceans all have
row pew with his wife, Car-    ute, prayed for the former     and recalled the house         est’s heart kept beating a       different names, but they
oline. The church is not far   three-time heavyweight         had an elevator and a par-     half-hour after the rest of his  all contain water,” he once
from the little pink house in  champion and his fam-          rot who called out: “Here      organs failed.                   said. “So do religions have
Louisville’s west end where    ily and even dug into their    comes the champ, here          “Ali always did something        different names, and they
the Ali brothers grew up.      pockets, filling a collection  comes the champ.”              nobody ever did,” Elliott        all contain truth, expressed
It was one of several emo-     plate for Rahaman and his      His father, the Rev. Charles   said.                            in different forms and times.
tional remembrances Sun-       wife as a show of support.     Elliott Jr., knew Ali for de-  Ali’s father, Cassius Clay Sr.,
day as the city joined to-     “There is no greater man       cades and remembered           a painter, was a member              Continued on page 5