KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A service Monday night honored the life of Knoxville educator, Civil Rights activist and political leader Sarah Moore Greene.
Greene passed away on Wednesday. She was 102.
A Service of a Life Well Lived ran from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 2714 Brooks Road.
Greene was a member of the church for more than 50 years.
Gov. Bill Haslam, who's the former mayor of Knoxville, was among those in attendance at the church. He spoke about the hundreds of time Greene called him when he was city mayor. But he says the calls were never for her.
"About 2 days a week when I walked in the door, she would say Sarah Moore Greene called, and wants you to call her. I knew her number 637-1892," Governor Haslam said, as he spoke at the church. "I have this friend of mine…I have this child of mine…and so on," he said describing how she would start the call.
But it was clear from the Monday evening service that it was the life lessons that Greene left behind that made the biggest impact.
"She said everyone you meet knows something you don't, so listen. She told me to focus on who I am, rather than where I was going," said one woman.
"Make every day great, and I have lived and learned from that statement," said someone else talking about the lesson Greene left her.
A Home-Going Service will be held Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at Greater Warner Tabernacle, 3800 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave.
Flags at all Knox County Schools, government facilities and the flag outside the City County Building were flown at half-staff last Wednesday in honor of Greene.
Sarah Moore Greene (source: Beck Cultural Center)
Many people spent time at the Service of a Life Well Lived.
Gov. Bill Haslam also came to the church.
