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Little Richard has been laid to rest at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama following his death earlier this month.
The rock’n’roll pioneer, born Richard Wayne Penniman, passed away on May 9 at the age of 87 after a battle with bone cancer.
During a memorial service that was held yesterday (May 20) at the cemetery in Oakwood University (Little Richard’s alma mater), the late musician’s “kindness and generosity” was remembered in a eulogy.
“What I really remember about Richard was not his stage performances, which were certainly formidable, but what I remember most about Brother Richard, not Little Richard, but Brother Richard, was his incredible kindness and his generosity to people,” university President Leslie Pollard said in tribute (via Billboard).
“I remember those of us riding around with him in Los Angeles, and he’d have money in the trunk of his car. Why he had money in the trunk of his car only he knew, but he would take money out and give it to homeless people,” he added. “He was a very generous and giving person.”
The news of Little Richard’s death on May 9 was met with an outpouring of tributes from across the entertainment world.
Paul McCartney remembered Little Richard “screaming into my life when I was a teenager” in his written tribute.
“I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style; and he knew it,” McCartney wrote. “He would say, ‘I taught Paul everything he knows.’ I had to admit he was right.”
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