At memorial service, John Lewis’s family urges Americans to keep his legacy alive

Family members, religious leaders and local officials remembered John Lewis’s humility, kindness and enduring quest for a more just society on Saturday, the first of six days of tributes honoring the life of the late civil rights leader and congressman.

Speakers at a public memorial service in Troy, Ala., Lewis’s birthplace, urged Americans to carry on his legacy. His brother, Freddie Lewis, implored people to do so by voting. His sister, Rosa Mae Tyner, recalled that he “lived with the never-ending desire to help others.” Another brother, Henry “Grant” Lewis, said Lewis “would gravitate toward the least of us.”