Before her breast cancer diagnosis in 2004, Glenda J. Black was already the type to focus on solutions instead of problems.

So rather than retreating into her illness, she dug deep and reached out.

She started Sisters of Faith, a nonprofit organization that promotes breast cancer awareness, and she led fund-raising walks named in her honor.

More than 1,000 participants trailed behind her each year as she raised money to help fund mammograms for those who couldn't afford them. The fourth event will be held in October.

"We're going to continue on because that was her nature," said her daughter Tangie Black of Stone Mountain. "She wouldn't be Glenda if she wasn't out doing things for others."

The funeral for Mrs. Black is 11 a.m. today at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church. Mrs. Black, 51, died of breast cancer July 3 at her Lithonia residence. Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Thousands are expected to attend her service at Beulah Baptist, where her husband, the Rev. Jerry D. Black Sr., has been pastor for 16 years.

Mrs. Black, who grew up in Arkansas, met her future husband when she was 12 and he was 14. They married when she was 19.

She earned a master's degree in education and worked as a fifth-grade teacher and junior high school counselor in Little Rock while he led a booming congregation there.

In 1991, she stepped into the role of "first lady" of Beulah Baptist and helped it grow from 800 to 8,000 members. She counseled young people and those with troubled marriages. She collected food for the homeless, worked in women's shelters and organized church rallies —- while juggling a real estate career.

In 1999, the idea for a new business venture came to her in a dream. Dissatisfied with media coverage of African-Americans, she started Good News, a magazine packed with more positive portrayals. She hired a staff, built it into a nationally distributed publication and ran it until her health began to fail in 2004.

That's when her determination to help African-American women battle breast cancer took hold. She brought her message to churches and partnered with the Georgia Cancer Foundation.

"She was a very soft-spoken lady, but boy, when you listened to her, you wanted to get right behind her and say, 'OK, let's make this happen,' " said executive director Rudy Morgan of Canton. "She just had a very graceful, very eloquent, very courageous presence that radiated when you were around her."

"She was all guts and glory," her daughter said, "a very spunky woman. Whatever she put her mind to, she would do it to no end, and it would be successful because of her determination. Everything she touched seem to turn to gold."

A firm believer in self-improvement, Mrs. Black meditated, worked out and practiced tai chi. She devoured self-help and spirituality books. Her deep Christian faith inspired her to improve herself and improve the lives of others.

"She was a visionary who had so many ideas," her daughter said. "She just always wanted to see people live their best lives, and I think she did just that. She lived her best life, and she gave it her best shot."

Survivors include her husband of 32 years, the Rev. Jerry D. Black Sr. of Lithonia; two other daughters, Erica Black and Terica Black, both of Lithonia; a son, Jerry D. Black Jr. of Fairburn; her mother, Verla Harris of Decatur; a sister, Catherine Harris of Kansas City, Mo.; and two grandchildren.