Rev. Jackson died last week after being diagnosed with a rare neurodegenerative disease. He was 84 and left a lifetime of service in bringing more equality to education, workplaces and politics.

Some of Jackson’s family greeted people waiting, sometimes hearing stories they say they had never heard.

“Our family while mourning we recognize at the same time that the community itself it mourning,” Jesse Jackson Jr. said.

Jackson Jr. says his father taught them how to comfort people and now they are comforting while also being comforted.

“I’ve been trying to keep it together but it’s the community outpouring of love that’s just taken me aback,” granddaughter Jessica Jackson said.

“He would have loved this, because he was so foundational to this community. He loved everybody, just hearing everybody’s stories. It’s beautiful, but it’s hard,” grandson Jesse Jackson III said.

Friday morning, the Jackson children loaded up their father’s casket into a gold and black hearse that will soon drive the reverend to his home state of South Carolina.

It’s part of a monumental homegoing for the late civil rights icon led by Chicago’ Leak & Sons Funeral Homes. But, this isn’t just another job for the business. The funeral director called this a full-circle moment.

A brand-new hearse from Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, that Rev. Jackson’s body will be the first to ride in, will be driven from Chicago to his home state of South Carolina. It’s a full-circle moment for the Leak family, whose history goes back to when Jackson first moved to Chicago.

“Thank you to him and the Jackson family for allowing me… to be apart,” said Spencer Leak, Jr. with Leak & Sons Funeral Homes.

It’s been a week on the job for Leak, Jr. as he plans the funeral for a civil rights icon to the world, but an old friend to his family.

“I’ve been given an awesome responsibility because of this awesome man, and I just want everything to go perfectly for him,” Leak, Jr. “Reverend Evans came to my grandfather and said, ‘Hey, we need to find this young preacher and his family a place to stay. My granddad, A.R. Leak said, ‘We don’t have to go searching. They can just move in with me.”

Leak’s family house in the South Shore neighborhood would then become the first home the Jacksons moved to in Chicago.

Leak’s father, the president of Leak & Sons, was honored during Friday’s celebration of life for Rev. Jackson, while some of the Jackson children placed their father’s casket into the brand-new hearse Friday morning.

“He is going to be the first person in that hearse that I personally wanted for him,” Leak, Jr. said.

Soon, Leak will get behind the wheel and drive Jackson to his home state of South Carolina to continue his celebration of life there.

“We’ll slow down in a few states so others can pay their respects to Reverend Jackson,” Leak, Jr. said.

Leak says they plan to take off from Chicago early Saturday for the roughly 13-hour journey.

The full schedule of services is as follows:

Thursday, Feb. 26
Lying in State at Rainbow PUSH Coalition
Location: 930 E. 50th St., Chicago, IL 60615
Doors open: 10 a.m.