 Dedication Slideshow |
 • Video tour • Interactive graphic |
• Highlights • Graham's address |
• Young Billy Graham • '96 Charlotte Crusade |
For more than half a century, his name, face and voice have been among the most recognizable on the planet. But not once in all that time has Hollywood turned Billy Graham's life into a feature film. | Slideshow
Charlotte-born evangelist Billy Graham, 89, underwent a 28-minute operation Wednesday that updated the valve for a shunt regulating pressure in his brain, said a statement from Asheville's Mission Hospitals.
Most days, Domna Colepaugh of Charlotte stays around the house, home-schooling son Jason, 12. But on Tuesday, teacher and student went on a field trip -- to the Billy Graham Library on its surprisingly quiet grand opening.
The Charlotte-born preacher who vaulted to national fame during a tent crusade in Los Angeles almost 60 years ago was back in a tent -- and a brighter spotlight -- on Thursday.
They helped him up from his special chair. His assistant placed a walker in front of him. He had maybe 10 feet to the microphone.
Billy Graham is "America's pastor." That's not something you would want to argue with, not Thursday, not when presidents and preachers, friends and admirers came to honor the man's message.
