Funeral services and a memorial second line for Bennie Pete have been announced by his family. Pete, a sousaphone player and founding member of the Hot 8 Brass Band, died on September 5 two weeks after a diagnosis of COVID-19 complicated by sarcoidosis, an incurable inflammatory disease.

A viewing will be held on Friday, October 1, from 5-7 p.m. at Christian Mission Baptist Church, 1477 N. Robertson Street. A second line parade to Tuba Fats Square and the Candlelight Lounge, four blocks from the church. will follow.

The funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 2, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Carver Theater, 2101 Orleans Avenue. Burial will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 4000 Norman Mayer Avenue. A repast will be held at the Carver Theater from 1-4 p.m.

Following the repast a second line parade will get underway at A.L. Davis Park, 2600 LaSalle Street that will circle back to the park.

A GoFundMe account has also been set up by the Hot 8 Brass Band to assist the Pete family. All money raised will go directly to support Bennie‘s family: his wife Lameka; his 3 sons, Brannon, Brennon (twins, age 2), Bennie Pete III (age 8); and his 2 step-daughters, La’Shae (age 19) and Laila (age 11).

Donations may be made here.