HOUSTON -- A memorial service will be held on Thursday for former Houston Mayor Louie Welch.

The 89-year-old died on Sunday from lung cancer.

On Wednesday, the former mayor will lie in repose from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, located at 1010 Bering Drive. A visitation will take place from 5 to 8 p.m.

The funeral service will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday in the worship center of Second Baptist Church, 6400 Woodway Drive at Voss Road.

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Slideshow: Remembering Former Houston Mayor Louie Welch

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The five-term mayor is remembered for his service to the city and a remark caught on a television microphone that ended his lengthy political career.

Welch's political career began in 1949 when he was elected to Houston City Council. He was a council member for eight years, from 1950 until 1952 and from 1956 to 1962.

After unsuccessful mayoral bids in 1952 and 1954, Welch was elected mayor for the first time in 1963.

Welch was mayor in 1967 when two days of battles erupted between police and students at predominantly black Texas Southern University. A police officer was killed, and about 500 Texas Southern students were arrested.

The events created a rift between the administration and many of the city's blacks. Years later, Welch acknowledged that accusations of racism still bothered him.

"It hurt," Welch said. "It still hurts to be accused of racism. It's just a bum rap."

In 1973, he did not run for re-election, joining what was then the Houston Chamber of Commerce. But he came back in 1985 in an attempt to take the mayor's job from Kathy Whitmire.

He lost the race after saying on an open television microphone that one way to stop the spread of AIDS was to "shoot the queers." He made the remark without realizing the microphone was on.

Some gays responded with T-shirts that sported the slogan: "Don't shoot, Louie!"

After losing to Whitmire, Welch said he had lost "the instinct to fight in the rough and tumble that campaigns have become."

Welch was a member of the Garden Oaks Church of Christ for more than 35 years. He frequently quoted from the Bible and was qualified as a minister. He officiated at the weddings of three of his children.

He was a fluent Spanish speaker and interested in Mexican culture.

Welch grew up in Slaton in West Texas and attended Abilene Christian, where he met his wife, Iola Faye Cure. Welch graduated with high honors in 1940 in history.

The Welches moved to Dallas where their first children, twins Guy and Gary, were born in 1942.

Their other children are Gil, Shannon and Tina. In 1955, another daughter, Lisa Meredith, died of cancer at the age of 2.

In the mid-1940s, the Welches moved to Houston, where he went into the auto parts business. Later, Welch became involved in real estate and investments, working as a broker.

Iola Welch died in 1991. A year later, he married Helen Morales.

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