MEMPHIS, Tenn. — People from across the Mid-South traveled to Memphis Thursday to pay their respects to the late Reverend Samuel “Billy” Kyles.
Visitation for the Civil Rights icon was held at the National Civil Rights Museum.
Kyles died last week at the age of 81.
He was pastor of Monumental Baptist Church for 55 years and witnessed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rev. Kyles, a Mississippi native, came to Memphis in 1959.
Shortly there after, he became a civil rights activist in the community.
Rev. Kyles was instrumental in bringing Dr. King to Memphis for a sanitation workers’ strike. On the night Dr. King was murdered, Rev. Kyles was hosting the Kings for dinner.
The Reverend Samuel “Billy” Kyles was a husband, father, preacher and civil rights leader whose life and experiences will continue to touch Memphians and others around the world.