Here’s how you can send flowers, tokens of love to Little Richard’s family from Macon

An outpouring of love and support for the family of rock ‘n’ roll icon Richard Wayne “Little Richard” Penniman has led to a way for people in the community to send flowers and cards to his family.

Little Richard, who often visited his hometown of Macon, died May 9 in Nashville. He was 87.

A private graveside service is Wednesday at Oakwood University Memorial Gardens on the grounds of Oakwood University, a historically black university in Huntsville, Alabama. Little Richard had attended the Seventh-day Adventist university, said Gerald Kibble, director of Oakwood University Memorial Gardens.

The Little Richard House Resource Center is accepting flowers, cards and other momentoes until noon Monday to ship to the funeral home in Nashville, which will in turn take those tokens of love and affection to Huntsville for the service, said Tedra Huston, executive director of the Macon-Bibb Community Enhancement Authority, which runs the center.

The center is the original home of Little Richard. The home was moved to its 416 Craft St. location and transformed into the center.

“We want the family to know Macon’s remembering Little Richard,” said Huston, who noted that people in the community already had been bringing flowers and tokens to the center after the news of his death.

Touched by that outpouring, the center wanted to open a way for people in the community to send flowers, cards and “just whatever is in their heart,” Huston said.

Little Richard’s cousin, Stanley Stewart, expressed thankfulness to the community for the outpouring. He said that it means a lot to the family to know how much Little Richard was loved by his hometown.

Huston and Stewart held a brief news conference outside the resource center Saturday about the effort.

When dropping items off at the center, knock first, and if no answer, call the number posted on the door, and someone will arrive shortly to assist, Huston said.