No one was playing pool at the Edgefield Billiard Parlor on Tuesday afternoon.

All eyes were on the television in the corner, broadcasting Strom Thurmond's funeral service from Columbia.

Burgers were cooking on the flat-top grill, onion rings were in the grease, and the television volume was turned up for the 20 or so people who visited the parlor during the service.

The parlor was one of just a few businesses open Tuesday afternoon on the Town Square.

Scott Townsend, 34, sat at the bar, sipping a Coke. Townsend just moved to Edgefield from Michigan in February, but he already has a feel for what Thurmond meant to Edgefield, the former U.S. senator's hometown.

"My neighbor is a cousin of his," Townsend said. "I hear a lot of him and what he's done for everybody."

That cousin is Doris Strom, 70, owner of the billiard room. She was dressed in black for the occasion.

She saw Thurmond just two months ago, as he was driven around the square. She was able to speak to her cousin through the car window.

Her cousin has died, but his memory and legacy will live on, she said.

"Our children will always remember. Their children will, too."