Private funeral for Harper Lee in hometown of Alabama

A few dozen family members gathered Saturday at the First United Methodist Church in Monroeville, Alabama to hear a eulogy by her longtime friend and history professor, Wayne Flint.

She was then laid to rest at her family burial plot, alongside her father and sister, Alice Lee. She may have written a book that has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since its publication in 1960, but there were no television news trucks and no police officers outside the church as her coffin, adorned with a spray of red and white roses, was wheeled into the church.

News of Lee’s death spread widely on social media and tributes poured in from well-known figures, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, who quoted the author in a tweet by saying, “Rest in peace, Harper Lee”. ‘Not one thing more, and not one thing less’.

“If I deviated one degree, I would hear this great booming voice from heaven, and it wouldn’t be God”, Flynt said in an earlier interview.

The author used Monroeville as a model for the imaginary town of Maycomb, the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. There’s the Mockingbird Inn on the edge of town and a statute of children reading, “Mockingbird” in the courthouse square.

Ann Mote, owner of the Ol’ Curiosities & Book Shoppe in the southern Alabama town thinks the town will always be linked to Lee. Scout has grown up exactly as we thought she would, bold and opinionated, still in dread of dresses, much to Aunt Alexandra’s disapproval.

Kentucky senator Rand Paul and Senator Richard Shelby from Lee’s home state of Alabama, both Republicans, praised her as a great author.

“Oh no. The great Harper Lee has passed away, ‘ actress Debra Messing said on Twitter”.

“I join Alabamians and all Americans in mourning the passing of Harper Lee”, Mr Shelby said in a statement.

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to American novelist Harper Lee (C) in the East Room of the White House, November 5, 2007.

Lee reportedly wrote Go Set a Watchman before she authored To Kill a Mockingbird.

The book quickly became a best-seller, won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a memorable movie in 1962, with Gregory Peck winning an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus.

“Everybody from the newspaper boy to the checkout girl to the local minister will be remembering Harper Lee with fondness or with an axe to grind, depending on how they were treated”, said Lee biographer Charles Shields, whose “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee” was published in 2006 and will be reissued this year. “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience”. Hollywood celebrities also expressed shock and sadness at Lee’s death. It eventually took on aspects of To Kill a Mockingbird, like a theme park with statues of the main characters, murals of important scenes, a museum display and tours of the courtroom.

“I think to kill a mockingbird will be read for ever and ever”, Theroux said.