DETROIT -- Perhaps it wasn't the most fitting memorial for Rosa Parks: dozens of prominent speakers and thousands of mourners at a seven-hour funeral that followed lavish remembrances in Alabama and Washington.

	Allan Detrich, The Blade An altar centerpiece with a photo of Rosa Parks is carried into the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit before her funeral service yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Ms. Parks would have been shocked, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said, because "She wasn't about being a big shot."

But there was too much gratitude, too much respect yesterday in Greater Grace Temple for the mourners to let this quiet woman go quietly. Many of them had accomplished great things in their lives -- things they knew might have been impossible if, 50 years ago, a tailor's assistant hadn't decided that she had had enough of being treated as something less than a human being.

"Thank you for sacrificing for us," said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who hadn't been born when Ms. Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in an act that would catapult the civil rights movement.

Ms. Parks was described during the service as both a warrior and a woman of peace who never stopped working toward a future of racial equality.

"The woman we honored today held no public office; she wasn't a wealthy woman, didn't appear in the society pages," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. "And yet when the history of this country is written, it is this small, quiet woman whose name will be remembered long after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten."

	Allan Detrich, The Blade The coffin of Rosa Parks is moved into the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. Click photo for larger image.

Those in the audience held hands and sang the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" as family members filed past her casket before it was closed in the funeral's first hour.

"Mother Parks, take your rest. You have certainly earned it," said Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace Temple.

The funeral, which stretched four hours past its three-hour scheduled time, followed a week of remembrances during which Ms. Parks' coffin was brought from Detroit, where she died Oct. 24; to Montgomery, Ala., where she took her famous stand in 1955; to Washington, where she became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

Singers yesterday included Aretha Franklin and mezzo-soprano Brenda Jackson, who sang a soaring Lord's Prayer.

Allan Dietrich, The Blade Charlie Hudgins sheds a tear as he remembers the time he met Rosa Parks. Mr. Hudgins credits Ms. Parks with saving his life.

Members of Congress and national civil rights leaders filled the pews.

"The world knows of Rosa Parks because of a single, simple act of dignity and courage that struck a lethal blow to the foundations of legal bigotry," said former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 had presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, recognizing exceptional meritorious service.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson likened Ms. Parks to an eagle. "You allowed the rebirth of hope," he said, after calling for a White House conference on civil rights. "You gave us confident protection. You showed us how to fly."

Ms. Parks' casket was taken to Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery, where she was entombed with her husband and mother.