By ideastream's Brian Bull
Roughly a thousand people crammed inside the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church today to pay their final respects to the late former Congressman Louis Stokes.
Relatives, friends, and politicians – including Vice President Joe Biden and Congresswoman Marcia Fudge – filled the pews as a choir filled the space with hymns and prayers.
Fudge now services Stokes’ district. She said his work as a civil rights attorney and U.S. Representative was a blessing for those in poor communities with basic needs like food, education, and equal treatment under the law.
“Eternal life is the fruitage of good works. Yes, I’m saying that if Lou Stokes is not in heaven, most of us can forget about it,” chided Fudge, as the crowd erupted into laughter and applause.
The Reverend Dr. Otis Moss Junior gave the eulogy.
“We unite today…in a sacred moment of gratitude….gratitude, respect, and admiration…thanking God for a great gift.”
The gift of Louis Stokes was one that lasted 90 years, Moss told the crowd. One where a child – born in poverty and largely raised by a widowed mother – would become an influential attorney and U.S. Representative, championing the rights of the oppressed, poor, and weak.
“In spite of all the despair in the world, God keeps sending apostles of hope. Louis Stokes was that kind of apostle.”
As for Eric Hammond, he recalled his late grandfather as someone larger than life...
“Grandad practically wrote the book on how to be a father, and a grandfather," said Hammond. "That’s why I gave him the name “Superman”. Which became an endearing term for our family. After all, Superman was born in Cleveland."
At the end, Stokes’ casket was carried out of the church, where a private burial took place at Lakeview Cemetery. He joins his brother -- Cleveland’s first black mayor, Carl B. Stokes -- there.