A week after conducting one of the biggest funerals in Augusta's history, Charlie Reid Jr. still can't rest.

The man who coordinated three separate services for James Brown in three different states said a decision might come today or Tuesday on a final resting place for Mr. Brown's casket.

It now sits inside the internationally known performer's Beech Island home while his family makes a decision. Mr. Reid is ready, just as he was Christmas Day, when his old friend died unexpectedly.

Then, it was up to Mr. Reid to coordinate Mr. Brown's three memorial services. Moving the body became the most difficult part of the job, he said in an interview last week.

They missed the only flight that could have carried the casket to New York for a viewing at the Apollo Theater, so Mr. Reid, the Rev. Al Sharpton and William Murrell, Mr. Brown's longtime chauffeur, spent about 28 hours on the highway driving a van carrying Mr. Brown's gold casket. They only stopped at gas stations to fuel up and grab sandwiches, Mr. Reid said.

When the white, horse-drawn hearse pulled up to the Apollo on Dec. 28, Mr. Reid was among those walking behind it.

Afterward, they took the body to Carpentersville Baptist Church in North Augusta for a private funeral Dec. 29, then to the James Brown Arena in Augusta for his public "homegoing" Dec. 30.

Mr. Brown was dressed twice, first in a blue sequined suit with white gloves for the Harlem viewing, then in a black suit with black gloves and black bow tie for the other services, said Mr. Reid, who also directed the funerals of Mr. Brown's former wife Adrienne and his father.

"We had an understanding with one another that if he called me and asked me for something, I would try to get it done, and vice versa," Mr. Reid said. "We were more like, I guess, brothers."

Mr. Reid said he was probably about 9 years old when he first met James Brown, when the singer performed in one of his father's nightclubs.

Mr. Reid's father, Charles Reid Sr., was well known in Augusta's black community. Among his business ventures were a motel and a bowling lane. He owned six nightclubs between the 1940s and 1980s.

More than a decade after the younger Mr. Reid met Mr. Brown, the Reids joined him in opening The Third World. It was a high-class night spot where the doormen wore tuxedos. Ray Charles performed there.

"I knew how to run a nightclub, and he knew entertainment," Mr. Reid said.

But a suspicious fire closed the club in 1973. Investigators found a jar containing nearly a pint of gasoline near its front, according to an account in The Augusta Chronicle.

No one was ever charged, and Mr. Brown long maintained that the blaze was set by people who didn't want to see him succeed in Augusta. His revenge song, The Payback, released later in 1973, supposedly was inspired by his anger over losing the club.

"He was devastated by it, because he enjoyed the club," Mr. Reid said.

Mr. Reid said Mr. Brown opened another club on 15th Street, which he helped design.

Mr. Reid later moved his father's funeral home to the old Third World building on Laney-Walker Boulevard, and in 1990 opened C.A. Reid Sr. Memorial Funeral Home - easily spotted from the street by the concrete statues of Jesus, Mary and twin lions guarding a fountain.

"My father never wanted me in the nightclub business," said Mr. Reid, 59, who manages C.A. Reid with his sons, Marcus, Christian and Charlie III. "He wanted me in something that was dignified, and he made that possible."

While he waits for a final move for the Godfather of Soul, Mr. Reid said he's unhappy that funeral programs, which he ordered for all three services, are being auctioned on eBay. Some have sold for as much as $78.

Some of the items appear to have been put on sale by Turner's Studio and Viszions Printing Co., the two Augusta-based companies that designed and printed the programs.

Joseph Turner, the owner of Turner's Studio, did not return messages left on his cell phone Friday, but in a statement to WRDW-TV (Channel 12), he admitted to placing the programs on eBay.

Priscilla Fyer, the owner of Viszions, said she wasn't involved.

"I just don't believe in that," she said.

Mr. Reid said he's not surprised that people would pay so much. Mr. Brown's fans were clamoring for the limited number of programs handed out at the Augusta service.

He said he doubts he'll ever put together a funeral like that again.

"It was overwhelming to see so many people, but I expected that," Mr. Reid said. "He had done so much for the area, it was unbelievable. He had done a lot for Augusta, and he'd done a lot for Harlem."

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.