Hundreds Join Rory Feek at Public Memorial for Country Singer Joey Feek

Joey Feek, one half of the duo Joey + Rory, died March 4 from cervical cancer.

ByABC News
March 14, 2016, 11:48 AM
Singers Rory Lee Feek and Joey Martin Feek arrive at the 48th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 7, 2013.
Singers Rory Lee Feek and Joey Martin Feek arrive at the 48th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 7, 2013.
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

— -- Rory Feek made a special appearance at a memorial service to honor his late wife, Joey Feek, in her hometown Alexandria, Indiana, on Sunday.

Hundreds gathered at the Alexandria-Monroe High School gymnasium to pay their respects to the 40-year-old singer, who died earlier this month after a battle with cervical cancer.

The crowd stood when Rory and the Feeks' 2-year-old daughter, Indiana, entered the gym.

The emotional service included remarks from Feek's husband, sisters, teachers and former basketball coach, according to People magazine. It also featured sing-alongs of Joey's favorite songs, including "Lean On Me."

The memorial comes days after Rory and the couple's family and close friends said their final farewells to the singer in a private funeral at the family's Pottsville, Tennessee, farm. Rory wrote about laying his "beautiful wife to rest" in a ceremony filled with music and memories on his blog "This Life I Live."

Eight singers then led a procession to the family plot with the song "Down By The River To Pray." They were followed by Joey's casket, which was pulled by a mule-drawn carriage.

Rory broke the news of his wife's death on his blog March 4.

"My wife’s greatest dream came true today," he said of the singer, who performed with her husband as the duo Joey + Rory. "She is in Heaven."

"The cancer is gone, the pain has ceased and all her tears are dry," he wrote. "Joey is in the arms of her beloved brother Justin and using her pretty voice to sing for her savior."