People from 35 states were said to have made the trip to say farewell to Hank.
Roy Acuff, along with a host of country’s biggest stars, performed “I Saw The Light.”
“He was one of the finest young men that we ever knew,” Acuff said.
Ernest Tubbs began the funeral with “Beyond the Sunset” and Red Foley and The Statesman Quartet sang “Peace In The Valley.”
Country music legends June Carter and Bill Monroe were among those who filed past his open casket as Hank’s band, The Drifting Cowboys, backed up those singing tributes to the fallen star.
One woman was carried out after she collapsed. She cried out, “He’s gone … gone” over and over as firefighters helped her out. Hank’s first and second wives watched from the front pew.
“When he played on his guitar, he played on the heart-strings of millions,” pastor Henry Lyons of Highland Avenue Baptist Church told the crowd gathered on Perry Street.
Beside Hank’s coffin were two large wreaths shaped like guitars, another set of flowers was shaped like a Bible, two lamps were shining purple lights, and in his hands there was a small Bible.
This being the days of Jim Crow, the 200 Black mourners were in a segregated balcony.
“If this world should last a thousand years,” Lyons said, “Hank shall remain dear to millions of hearts.”
Lyons recalled how Hank rose from being a shoeshine boy to star of the stage.
“He had a message. It was swelling in him like a great body of water behind a massive dam,” Lyons said.
“There was desire, burden, fear, ambition, reverse after reverse, bitter disappointment, joy, success, sympathy, love for people. It was all in Hank’s heart. The break had to come,” he added. “Hank Williams had something that humanity universally needs — a song with a heart-felt message.”
A line of thousands filled two-and-a-half city blocks as the funeral procession carried Hank to Oakwood Cemetery.
