The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., pastor emeritus of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, will deliver the eulogy at a private funeral for Aretha Franklin on Aug. 31.
Williams, a powerful preacher and award-winning singer, also delivered the eulogy for the Queen of Soul’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin in 1984.
Related: Aretha Franklin's role in shaping the civil rights movement
Williams considered C.L. Franklin to be a beloved mentor.
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In a video posed on his Facebook page, the Rev. Joseph L. Williams asked his father how it felt to preach the funeral of Franklin, who died of pancreatic cancer Aug. 16 at age 76.
His father called it a privilege to preach at the funeral of the daughter of C.L. Franklin.
Related: The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. seeks prayers as he prepares to eulogize Aretha Franklin
“My admiration, love and respect for Dr. . Franklin is infinite,” the elder Williams said in the video. “In other words, there are no boundaries. There are no limitations. I feel like what I was privileged to have done 34 years ago when I preached his funeral Aug. 11, 1984...God put a comma there. To me and in my mind at the time, it was a period. It was the end of the greatest anticipation of what ever I wanted as a preacher.”
However, when “Respect” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” singer asked him to preach at her funeral, it was as if “God was taking that period and pulling the line down to make it a pause or a comma...It was one of the things that God just gave me.”
Franklin had requested Williams.
In another post, Jasper Williams compared it a a subject following the orders of “the queen.”
“That’s the thing that is so behooving and moving to me,” he said. “I feel like I’m carrying out an order that only the queen gave ,” he said.
While the funeral is private, the public can pay its respect to the legendary singer at public viewings Aug. 28 and 29 viewing.
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