As the two-hour wake for her mother, brother and nephew came to an end, Jennifer Hudson approached their coffins and spent a few moments with each.
She paused at the casket of her 7-year-old nephew Julian, then moved on, gently touching the body of her mother. Composed, the 27-year actress and singer leaned down to kiss her mother goodbye. She paused again before her brother's casket before taking her seat.
The three-hour funeral reached an emotional peak when American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino sang a gospel classic, "Your Grace and Mercy". Calling the Hudsons "my family," she walked off the stage and into the aisle where she took Jennifer's hand and sang directly to the actress.
"I think it healed Jennifer's soul just then," said family friend, Lisa Allison.
The funeral ended shortly afterward and now the funeral procession is being led to Oak Woods Cemetery on the South Side by a horse-drawn carriage.
The service comes ten days after Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason, were found shot to death in the family's South Side home. Her nephew, Julian King, was found shot in the head a few days later in a sport-utility vehicle.
The service included several hours of eulogies and scriptures and was filled with gospel music and happy memories. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley spoke during the funeral.
Earlier this morning, about 200 people holding blue admittance slips started filing into the invitation-only service at Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester Ave.
Some fans, however, showed up in hopes of getting in and extending their sympathies to Jennifer and Julia Hudson.
"The crime wave has to stop," said Glover Lewis, who lives in Englewood but does not know the family. "We have to stop killing each other. We have a lot of work to do."
The funeral has snarled traffic, causing back ups for several blocks on 63rd Street and forcing CTA officials to consider rerouting buses.
Police have shut down side streets around the church to keep the news media away and give celebrity mourners a private entrance. They stopped cars and demanded tickets from anyone trying to enter the church parking lot...
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