ENTERTAINMENT

Funeral mass being held for beloved author Pat Conroy

Bruce Smith The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, March 8, 2016 7:13AM EST

In this May 16, 2014, file photo, author Pat Conroy speaks to a crowd during a ceremony at the Hollings Library in Columbia, S.C. Conroy, whose best-selling novels drew from his own sometimes painful experiences and evoked vistas of the South Carolina coast and its people, has died at age 70. (AP / Richard Shiro, File)

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BEAUFORT, S.C. - The life of Pat Conroy, the author of "The Prince of Tides," "The Great Santini" and other works set on his beloved South Carolina coast, is being celebrated at a funeral mass in his hometown.

Conroy died last week at age 70. His funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in Beaufort, a small town about an hour south of Charleston. Hundreds of people are expected to attend the service at St. Peter's Catholic Church which has a sanctuary seating 1,200.

Conway died last Friday less than a month after announcing that he was battling pancreatic cancer.

The author, who sold 20 million books worldwide, once told an interviewer that he wrote to explain his life to himself. When he did so, Conroy said, he also explained other people's lives to them.