NORTH CAROLINA -- Memorial services to honor George Floyd are taking place in three cities over six days.

Mourners in the communities where he was born, grew up, and died will each have a chance to pay their respects. The organizers want to acknowledge the meaning Floyd had in life to his large family and the broader meaning he has assumed in death, after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee onto his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The first service is Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis. 

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Floyd was born in the Tar Heel State and later moved to Texas, then Minnesota. Members of the community are now looking ahead to his memorial service on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in North Carolina. It will be held at Cape Fear Conference B Headquarters located at 10225 Fayetteville Road, Raeford NC 28376. Hoke County officials say a private memorial will follow. 

"As the Sheriff of Hoke County, I’m asking on behalf of the Floyd family for those who plan on attending the viewing/memorial service to be respectful to the sensitivity of the family’s time of grief. The memorial is about the life that Mr. George Floyd lived and this is a time to embrace the family with expressions of love and kindness," Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said.

Another service will be held in Houston.