NEWARK, N.J.(PIX11)—
Whitney Houston was a Jersey girl who found her voice in the choir at the New Hope Baptist Church. And anyone who heard her, knew her glorious sound would travel well beyond the walls of their church."I was always in awe of her listening to her sing, and just bringing in so many people. People would sit on the steps," said Carla Johnson, who sang with Houston in the choir. "An angel, a gifted voice blessed by God, that's how I'll always remember her."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among the hundreds of mourners who turned out for services at the church where Houston's mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, was choirmaster.
"I talked with Whitney's mother this morning and last night. We'll just join hands. We're going to get through this together, " Jackson, a family friend, said.
Clutching a bible and a Valentine's Day teddy bear, Arleatha Harrison walked into church with a broken heart.
"I'm just devastated over it. I cried so much. I felt like she was part of my family," Harrison said.
Houston's family moved out of Newark after the 1967 riots there. She was raised in East Orange, and attended high school at Mount Saint Dominic Academy in Caldwell. Never straying far from her New Jersey roots, the pop queen later bought a home in Mendham Township where she and her family spent the better part of two decades.
