Memorial Rites for Compton Mayor Planned

The body of Mayor Walter R. Tucker will lie in state today and Friday in the room where he spent so much time in the last nine years: the City Council chambers.

Tucker was serving his third mayoral term when he died of cancer Monday at 66.

A memorial service will be held Friday from noon to 2 p.m. in Civic Center Plaza outside the chambers. The body will lie in state today from 3 to 8 p.m. and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Flags across the city will remain at half-staff all week until after the 11 a.m. funeral Saturday at Eagle Rock Missionary Baptist Church in Compton. Burial will be at Angeles Abbey in Compton.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the mayor’s memory to a scholarship fund created by his family. Those who wish to donate to the fund may call 285-3770. The mayor is survived by his wife, Martha; two daughters, Keta and Camille, and two sons, Walter and Kenneth.

Tucker came to the city in 1957 and set up a dental practice, which he maintained until he became ill this year.

He entered politics in 1967, winning election as a school trustee that year. In 1973 he won a council seat but was later defeated in his first mayoral bid. When he ran again in 1981, he was elected mayor.