Memorial service held in Selma for Kathryn Tucker Windham

Family and friends gathered Sunday at Church Street United Methodist Church in Selma to remember Kathryn Tucker Windham. The legendary storyteller died earlier this month. (The Birmingham News/Matthew Busch)

By The Associated Press   SELMA, Alabama -- A spray of yellow sunflowers, Kathryn Tucker Windham's favorite, stood next to Donald Davis in the sanctuary of Church Street United Methodist Church on Sunday as he eulogized his longtime friend and fellow professional storyteller.
Davis told story after story about Mrs. Windham, including one where she asked him to give the eulogy when she died. Davis said he balked at the idea.
"I said I might cry if I get up there," he said to her. Mrs. Windham replied, "Have you ever seen a ghost?" After a moment's silence, staring at the church's crowd in front of him, Davis shared what so many remembered about Mrs. Windham, her humor. "If you cry, you'll see one," Mrs. Windham said.

The memorial service for Kathryn Tucker Windham, who died June 12 at age 93 at her Selma home, drew hundreds. The main sanctuary, which holds around 300 people, was full and another side section was nearly as crowded.

Kathryn Tucker Windham was a beloved storyteller whose wrote the "Jeffrey" series of ghost stories. (The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell)

  Windham's friends The Dill Pickers, a vocal band with bluegrass instruments, played one of her favorite songs during the memorial, "I'll Fly Away," as the crowd tapped and sang along. It was a celebration filled with laughter and story-swapping. The reception in the church's fellowship hall, which is named after Mrs. Windham, after the service continued that theme. Dilcy Windham Hilley and Ben Windham, two of Mrs. Windham's children, were approached by an endless line of people sharing their condolences and stories about Mrs. Windham.

In a small glass case beyond the main area lay memories from Mrs. Windham's life: her Bible, an old Brownie Target Six-16 camera used in her early days as a journalist, photographs and a small blue bottle used to warn off evil spirits. The same blue bottles were resting on the branches of a tree in her backyard when family members and friends gathered before the service.
Charlie Lucas, Mrs. Windham's neighbor and artist known as "Tin Man," recalled the time when he and Mrs. Windham went to chop down a Christmas tree in a nearby forest.
When they pulled off Bell Road and parked their truck behind a nearby church, they went out to search for trees. Of course to cut down the tree they needed a saw, so Lucas carried one with him. When a local woman driving by saw a tall black man carrying a saw, and walking with an older and much smaller white woman into the woods, she spread the news quickly, Lucas said.
"It just went all over Selma that we went to the woods to cut her all up," Lucas said with a laugh. "We just wanted to have some Christmas cheer."
Ron Harris, a long-time family friend, remembered cooking with Mrs. Windham and looking for some utensil. When asked about the status of her kitchen, Mrs. Windham replied, "There's nothing in this kitchen that wasn't invented before 1950."

Prior to the service, family and friends gathered for lunch at her home. It is filled with photographs from her long life. They depict her as a young newspaper woman, an adventurist and a wonderful storyteller. Hung on a bookshelf is a photograph of Jeffrey (a shadow of him anyway), the ghost who inspired so many stories in Mrs. Windham's long career including the book, "13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey."
On the day she died, Mrs. Windham had already written out her burial plans, almost like a PowerPoint, Harris joked. She wanted to be buried quickly and with simple ceremony.
Right before the memorial service was to begin, Harris described his last moments with Mrs. Windham.
"I was holding her hand when she died," he said. "OK, let's go celebrate her."