ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601220113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOUSTON
SOURCE: SAM HOWE VERHOVEK THE NEW YORK TIMES
THE SERVICE HONORED and celebrated her as an `American original and a national treasure.'
Before President Clinton, a packed Baptist church of 1,500 people and hundreds more who listened to loudspeakers outside in a soft drizzle, Barbara Charline Jordan of Texas was remembered Saturday as ``an American original and a national treasure'' and was eulogized by her pastor as a woman who intuitively ``understood where to invest her hope.''
The body of the former congresswoman, the first black elected to the House from Texas since Reconstruction, was brought home Saturday to Houston's Fifth Ward neighborhood, where she grew up. She died Wednesday at the age of 59.
The two-hour service at the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church was punctuated both by repeated applause and soft murmurs of ``Amen,'' as when actress Cicely Tyson said of Jordan: ``If I were sitting on a porch across from God, I would thank him for sending you to us.''
Former Gov. Ann Richards of Texas, who, along with Clinton, was one of eight people to offer reflections on Jordan's life, praised her fight for civil rights and her often-eloquent celebrations of the U.S. Constitution by saying of the former congresswoman and government scholar: ``There was simply something about her that made you proud to be a part of the country that produced her.''
People started to line up at the church at 5 a.m., and many who were forced to remain outside nonetheless hailed the event as a significant one in their own lives or those of their children.
``This is a chance for him to do something historical, a chance to honor someone great in our community,'' said Delvin Kendrick, a pharmacist, clutching the hand of his 10-year-old son Shantez in one of his own hands and a video camera in the other.
Despite the gathering of mourners and the presence of Jordan's open coffin, the service was described repeatedly as a celebration, and there were many moments of humor.
The audience dissolved into long laughter and cheers when Mayor Bob Lanier of Houston, noting Clinton's affection for Jordan, said of him: ``The president must have some attachment for strong women.''
Clinton, in his remarks, told the audience that he had been nervous enough to be giving a speech on race and the Constitution at the University of Texas last fall, on the same day of the Million Man March. But he said he had become even more nervous when he noted Jordan's presence in the audience.
``I think it was the nearest experience on this Earth to the pastor giving a sermon with God in the audience,'' Clinton said.
Jordan was buried wearing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, which Clinton gave her in 1994.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Houston honor guardsmen carry former congresswomanby CNBBarbara Jordan's casket from the service.