Public Memorial Planned For Tammy Faye

Live one day at a time, without fear, Tammy Faye Messner said earlier this month as she battled cancer, weighing just 65 pounds.

Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire that collapsed in disgrace, lived a very public life.

When she died Friday, at her home near Kansas City, it was a very private moment for the tireless evangelist and her family.

Messner, who was 65, was cremated Saturday and the family held a private funeral service before announcing her death to the media.

"She had a very peaceful death and is no longer in pain," said her son, Jay Bakker, in a message posted on the website of the Revolution Church, his own ministry. "Thank you to everyone for their prayers and support over the years - it has helped me more than you will ever know. Please continue to pray for her husband Roe as well as the rest of my family."

Bakker, asking the media to allow him to grieve in private at this time, adds that a public ceremony is being planned.

Jay Bakker is not alone in carrying forward his parents' work – his sister, Tammy Sue Chapman, has also followed the family vocation and is a Christian singer.

Messner had battled colon cancer since 1996 that more recently spread to her lungs.

Messner often spoke about her medical problems, saying she hoped to be an inspiration to others.

"Don't let fear rule your life," she said. "Live one day at a time, and never be afraid." But she told well-wishers in a note on her Web site in May that the doctors had stopped trying to treat the cancer.

She continued using her web site to speak to followers and fans, right up to the end, speaking of her belief in God and thanking everyone for their prayers and encouragement.

Those who loved Messner are using her web site now to post memorial messages.

In an interview with CNN's Larry King earlier this month, an emaciated Messner - still using her trademark makeup - said, "I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I'm going straight to heaven." Asked if she had any regrets, Messner said: "I don't think about it, Larry, because it's a waste of good brain space."

For many, the TV image of then-Mrs. Bakker forgiving husband Jim's infidelities, tears streaking her cheeks with mascara, became a symbol for the wages of greed and hypocrisy in 1980s America.

She divorced her husband of 30 years, with whom she had two children, in 1992 while he was in prison for defrauding millions from followers of their PTL television ministries. The letters stood for "Praise the Lord" or "People that Love."

Jim Bakker said in a news release that his ex-wife "lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade."'

"She is now in heaven with her mother and grandmother and Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childbirth," he said. "That is the comfort I can give to all who loved her."

Messner's second husband also served time in prison. She married Roe Messner, who had been the chief builder of the Bakkers' Heritage USA Christian theme park near Fort Mill, S.C., in 1993. In 1995, he was convicted of bankruptcy fraud, and he spent about two years in prison.

Through it all, Messner kept plugging her faith and herself. She did concerts, a short-lived secular TV talk show and an inspirational videotape. In 2004, she cooperated in the making of a documentary about her struggle with cancer, called "Tammy Faye: Death Defying."

"I wanted to help people ... maybe show the inside (of the experience) and make it a little less frightening," she said.

A 2000 documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" delved into the rise and fall of the PTL ministry, largely through interviews with Messner. Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato garnered wide critical praise for their intelligent and sympathetic depiction of the former PTL co-star.

Messner was never charged with a crime in the Bakker scandal. She said she counted the costs in other ways.

"I know what it's like to hit rock bottom," she said in promotional material for her 1996 video "You Can Make It."