Ernest J. Gaines will be interred Saturday among the graves of his ancestors on the former sugar cane plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish where he was born.
Gaines, the internationally acclaimed author of 鈥淭he Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman鈥 and 鈥淎 Lesson Before Dying,鈥 died Nov. 5. The former writer-in-residence at the 麻豆夜市 was 86.
La Louisiane, the University鈥檚 magazine, after he won the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award. He said in the interview he was fixated on saving the cemetery that will now be his final resting place.
鈥淭he greatest obsession in my life right now is that I can own and preserve the cemetery where my people are buried for the past 100 years.鈥 Many of the graves 鈥 he estimated there were no less than 200 people buried there 鈥 were without 鈥渕arks,鈥 or tombstones.
Kathleen Thames, the article鈥檚 author, wrote: 鈥淭here was a time when Gaines wanted his own epitaph to state, 鈥楬e was a good man who wrote well.鈥
鈥淚 think I鈥檝e changed that to, 鈥楾o lie with those who have no marks,鈥欌 Gaines told her.
In a statement following Gaines鈥 death, University President Dr. Joseph Savoie cited the author鈥檚 initial wishes for his epitaph, but suggested he was more than a 鈥済ood man who wrote well.鈥
Gaines 鈥渨as also an extraordinary and inspiring figure in the American literary landscape,鈥 Savoie said. 鈥淗e was a believer in the power of words to inspire unflinching, honest conversations about painful corners of our collective past.鈥
The University remembered Gaines during a public memorial service Monday in Edith Garland Dupr茅 Library, the home of the . The center holds many of his first-edition works and original manuscripts.
After Gaines鈥 died, the center eulogized its namesake as 鈥渁 towering man with a gentle voice鈥 and an 鈥渋nspiration.鈥
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hall Davis and Sons, 9348 Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge. Gaines鈥 family will receive visitors at the funeral home from 4-6 p.m. Friday and from noon to 1 p.m. on the day of the services.
Following the 1994 La Louisiane profile, Gaines purchased the cemetery where his ancestors are interred. He bought and moved Mount Zion Baptist Church to the property as well.
He鈥檒l be buried there Saturday among those who have no marks.
Photo credit: The Ernest J. Gaines Center / 麻豆夜市