COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Fans will have one last chance to pay their respects to the late Patty Duke on Saturday.
The Oscar winning actress died in March at the age of 69. The family is planning a public memorial at Lake City Church. Both family members and officials with Lake City Church said they are not exactly sure how many people will show up here this weekend. While it is been a little tricky planning all of this, they say they know this is what Patty Duke would have wanted.
Mike Pearce called his wife Anna. Pearce originally thought of holding a private ceremony to honor his late wife, but changed his mind once he remembered that the world knew his wife not as Anna, but rather Patty Duke.
"And then I realized, no that's not fair. I wanted to do public, because she loved the public. And oh my, the public loved her," Pearce said.
So Pearce decided to plan a public memorial for his wife at Lake City Church. It is the same church that held overflow room for Sgt. Greg Moore's funeral in 2015. Church officials said they have been plenty busy getting ready.
“We did have one phone call from California. Somebody who was planning to make reservations for a flight," said Pastor Mark Mitchell.
Pastor Mitchell said they have communicated with the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department to make sure they have adequate space for the amount of anticipated people. The auditorium holds around 1200 people, and there will be overflow room out in the lobby and in another room at the church.
“We will prepare for approximately 2,000 people to attend," said Mitchell.
If more show up, Pearce said they will be allowed to go to overflow room at nearby Lake City High School. While his late wife was a very humble and modest person, she made an effort to have an impact on everyone around her. Pearce said he and his family are now the ones realizing how important Saturday's service will be.
"I'm just overwhelmed by the outpour. It's really been amazing,” said Pearce.
The service begins at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. KREM 2 will stream the memorial live on our website.