Loved ones gathered around the pink casket of Civil Rights legend Lucille Times on Saturday for a viewing at Phillips-Riley Funeral Home in Montgomery.
Times passed away earlier this week. At the visitation, her family said she had the coronavirus.
#NEW Daniel Nichols, the nephew of Montgomery civil rights advocate Lucille Times, says she caught #COVID19 before passing away at 100 years old. @wsfa12news pic.twitter.com/RrhXUMC7wj
— Brady Talbert (@BradyTalbert) August 21, 2021
“I mean, if it wasn’t for the COVID, I think she probably had another year left in her,” nephew Daniel Nichols said. “She was a pretty big fighter.”
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Six months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, Times got into a fight with the same bus driver. She is known for her role in boycotting segregated buses before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
More recently, Nichols and his wife were caretakers for Times for over four years. The nephew said he has not forgotten her fighting spirit and determination.
“Never backing down,” he said. “She’s never going to back down. If she thinks she’s right, she’s going all the way to the end with it.”
Zsazsa Hill, the God-granddaughter of Times, attended the visitation.
“She was just a wonderful person,” Hill said.
Times helped mold Hill into the woman she is today – her poise and integrity is from her.
“It means a lot, because my mother is not able to be here,” she said. “But I am, and I thank God that I’m able to see her.”
Hill’s mother and Times’ goddaughter, Bettye Coleman,could not attend the viewing because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and travel issues. She did say over the phone, Times had a servant’s heart.
“Feeding people in the neighborhood, not only civil rights, anyone that came and needed a helping hand she’s always willing to open her doors for her,” Coleman said. Times was 100 years old. A funeral service will be held on Sunday at 1 p.m. at St. Jude Catholic Church.
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