Fans Pay Respects to Van Cliburn During Visitation

FORT WORTH (AP) � Hundreds of people attended the visitation in Fort Worth for celebrated pianist Van Cliburn, remembering him as a great musician who charmed those he met with his warmth. Cliburn, who grew up in Kilgore, died Wednesday at 78 after a fight with bone cancer. The Saturday visitation at Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist Church was open to the public, as will be Sunday’s funeral at the church. Cliburn had played for every American president since Harry Truman, plus royalty and heads of state around the world. But he is best remembered for winning the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, as the height of the Cold War. Fort Worth Symphony president Amy Adkins says, “Every time you spoke to him, he made you feel like you were the only person in the room.”