Over 3,000 people packed Oakland’s Paramount Theatre Wednesday to be part of a four-hour tribute to Bay Area gospel legend Bishop Walter Lee Hawkins.
The turnout for a memorial service that was part revival and part musical celebration was full of joy and showed the Oakland native had touched a lot of lives.
Hawkins, a Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, composer and pastor, died Sunday, July 11, succumbing to pancreatic cancer at age 61. It was hard to sit still as singers both famous and anonymous lifted their voices in song to send Hawkins to the promised land.
“I was in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was freed, and they were singing ‘Oh, Happy Day,’” remembered Rev. Jesse Jackson when he spoke at the podium of the impact Hawkins had.
Along with his brother Edwin Hawkins, sister Lynnette, former wife Tramaine, Walter and the entire Hawkins family were part of a gospel dynasty in Oakland that inspired musicians and worshipers the world over.
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article courtesy of KTVU.com
