LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – Saturday the Lumberton community gathered to honor the mother of rap legend Tupac Shakur.

City leaders proclaimed Saturday as “Afeni Shakur” day during a celebration of life for a political activist, former Black Panther and mother of a rap legend Tupac Shakur.

Family members say Shakur’s life influenced her son’s music throughout his career.

“When he was staying in New York he use to always come to my house during the summer and spend it with me and my wife,” said Afeni Shakir’s cousin, Roneld Mckee.

Afeni Shakur was born in Lumberton in 1947.

Family members say she moved to New York as a young girl and then returned home about 15 years ago.

“I would always call her Faye all the time. But Faye was a generous lady,” mentioned Mckee.

A generous lady that learned not from society but from the time she spent home and around those she loved.

“Her farm was an area she lived in as a child growing up here in Robeson County and when she had the opportunity she actually bought the area and turned it into a farm,” said Shakur’s cousin Roderick Ford.

Shakur grew organic vegetables at her farm and some say that was another example of her giving back to the community.

“A lot of people did not realize that all of the fruits and vegetables that she made on the farm she donated to the school system,” added Ford.

Not only was Saturday May 28 a memorial service for Tupac’s mother  but a day that will be always remembered in the City of Lumberton.

“The honorable Bruce W. Davis and our council proclaim that May 28, 2016 is hereby known as Afeni Shakur day,” Lumberton City Council Member John Cantey said.

A proclamation dedicated in memory of the lives Afeni Shakur touched before her very last breath.

“Just to know what she stands for as far as giving back to the community is a beautiful thing,” mentioned Shakur’s cousin Tina Ford.

Family members say Afeni Shakur was cremated in Marin County, California.

Among others in attendance Saturday was attorney Benjamin Crump, a Lumberton native who has represented victims of several high-profile police killings, including the family of Trayvon Martin.