Elizabeth Edwards' funeral Saturday

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RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Edwards, a national figure for her battle with cancer and her husband's campaign, will be buried Saturday in Raleigh, N.C., the funeral home said.

Officials at the Brown-Wynne Funeral home said there would be no public visitation before the funeral at United Methodist Church, The (Raleigh) News and Observer reported Wednesday. She is expected to be buried in a private ceremony in Oakwood Cemetery, where her son, Wade, is buried.

Edwards, diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago as her husband, former Sen. John Edwards, campaigned for the White House, died Tuesday at home in North Carolina surrounded by family, relatives said. She was 61.

Elizabeth Edwards died a day after she sent a final message to the public through Facebook.

"I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces -- my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope," she said. "The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that."

Elizabeth Edwards, who married after she and her husband graduated from the University of North Carolina law school and passed the bar exam, became a national figure in 2004 when her husband, a one-term senator, ran for president and then became Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's running mate. She found a lump in her breast during the campaign but did not release the news until after Kerry and Edwards lost the election.

Earlier in her marriage, she had to deal with the death of her 16-year-old son, Wade. She had two more children, Emma and Jack, in addition to her daughter, Catharine.

Later, she struggled with a terminal diagnosis and with the news that her husband had fathered a child with another woman.

The couple separated this year after the scandal became public.

President Barack Obama talked to John Edwards and Catharine Tuesday afternoon, expressing condolences and saying he admired Elizabeth Edwards' advocacy for improving healthcare and fighting poverty.

"In her life, Elizabeth Edwards knew tragedy and pain," Obama said in a statement. "Many others would have turned inward; many others in the face of adversity would have given up. But through all that she endured, Elizabeth revealed a kind of fortitude and grace that will remain a source of inspiration."