Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush joined the crowd that showed up to mourn the passing of Reverand Billy Graham in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday.
‘Laura and I are honored to be able to come and pay our respects to the Graham family, and more importantly, to be able to say good to a person who was influential in our lives, and influential in the lives of millions,’ the 41st president said.
He added his father, former President George HW Bush wished he could be there, too.
Thousands of people from all walks of life have slowly been filing past the casket of the famed evangelist to pay their final respects, since the doors of Graham’s boyhood home were opened to mourners first thing Monday morning.
Graham died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina at the age of 99 on Wednesday.
Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush joined the crowd that showed up to mourn the passing of Reverand Billy Graham in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday
Mourners of all races, young and old, some in suits and some in T-shirts and flip-flops, walked through the parlor where his closed casket lay on a black pedestal.
They walked past family photos and a cross made of white lilies to see the simple plywood container made by prison inmates.
For the first few hours, Graham’s grandson, Roy, shook the hand of every person who came to see his grandfather.
‘I just wanted to tell them how much I appreciated the love for my family,’ Roy Graham said.
Jane Graham (left) wipes something off former US President George W. Bush’s (right) shoulder as Bush arrives for visitation for Graham’s father-in-law, US Christian evangelist Billy Graham, as he lies in repose at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina
Graham, an evangelist and spiritual adviser to numerous presidents, died last week aged 99 at his home in North Carolina
Thousands of mourners have slowly been filing past the casket of the Rev. Billy Graham in North Carolina on Monday to pay their final respects to the famed evangelist
The doors of Graham’s boyhood home in Charlotte were opened to mourners first thing Monday morning following his death aged 99 last week
He said what moved him the most on Monday were the dozens who paused and told him the exact moment and place Billy Graham came into their lives through his hundreds of crusades around the world.
Cecily Turner was one of them. Her mother was at Billy Graham’s 1957 New York crusade and she said he led her mother to salvation that day.
‘I know she is in heaven thanking him right now,’ she said.
Turner said her mother had passed her faith onto her and she, in turn, had passed it down to five children and four great-grandchildren.
‘That’s an amazing thing,’ Turner said.
Bush (left) talks with Jane Graham (second from left), as Franklin Graham (right) hugs Laura Bush (second from right), after the Bushes paid their respects to Billy Graham during a public viewing at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte
Bush (left) speaks to the media as wife Laura Bush (left) and Franklin Graham (back right), and his wife Jane Graham (back left), listen after paying their respects to Billy Graham
For the first few hours, Graham’s grandson, Roy, (far right) shook the hand of every person who came to see his grandfather
Mourners walked past family photos and a cross made of white lilies to see the simple plywood container made by prison inmates
Roy Graham (right), grandson of Billy Graham, greets people as they arrive to pay respects to Billy Graham during a public viewing on Monday
People stream through the Billy Graham Library as they come to pay respects to Billy Graham during a public viewing in Charlotte on Monday
Wyatt Nordin, left, watches as his brother Lucas Nordin, right, of Atlanta, Georgia, writes his name in the registry as people pay respects to Billy Graham
Billy Wayne Arrington was a boy when he first encountered Graham on a TV screen in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Arrington wiped tears from his eyes as he exited after saying a prayer for Graham and for the world he leaves behind.
‘I’m just overwhelmed, not by sadness – just overwhelmed to see so many lives touched,’ Arrington said.
Public viewing will continue Monday and Tuesday at Graham’s Charlotte library on the campus of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
His body will then be taken to the US Capitol where on Wednesday and Thursday he will be the first private citizen to lie in honor there since civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005.
Graham’s funeral will be held on Friday.
A woman reads a brochure under a large photo of Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte on Monday
People line up inside to pay respects to a man who reached millions with his message of salvation through Jesus Christ
President Donald Trump has said he will been in attendance. Invitations were sent to all ex-presidents of the US.
George W Bush came to pay his respects with his wife on Monday because he had a scheduling conflict with the funeral.
The funeral will be held in a giant tent as a nod to Graham’s 1949 Los Angeles crusade. That revival, which Graham said propelled him to worldwide fame, was held in a circus tent dubbed the ‘Canvas Cathedral’.
The man called ‘America’s Pastor’ would eventually preach to an estimated 210 million people in person and many more through his pioneering use of prime-time telecasts, network radio, daily newspaper columns, evangelistic films and satellite TV hookups.
Graham will be buried beside his wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway at Graham’s library in Charlotte.
A woman with her children pauses as she walks past Graham’s coffin in Charlotte on Monday
People stop to pray after paying respects to Billy Graham outside the library on Monday
People streamed through the Billy Graham Library as they came to pay respects
Groups of people braved the rain to pay their respects to the famed evangelist