COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 22 (UPI) -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the renowned British science-fiction guru, was buried in a secular funeral Saturday in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The writer's adoptive country recognized a nationwide minute of silence in honor of Clarke, who died this week of heart failure at age 90, the Press Trust of India reported.
Yellow roses were placed on his body and refrains from the soundtrack of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" played at his funeral in Colombo, the news agency reported. Clarke wrote the script for the 1968 sci-fi classic.
The epitaph he requested for his gravestone read: "Here lies Arthur C Clarke. He never grew up and did not stop growing."
Clarke donated six strands of his hair he wanted launched into space with the hope aliens would one day make his clone, the Press Trust reported. An atheist, his will forbid any religious ceremony or speeches at his funeral, the news agency said.
Tamara Ekanayake, a member of the Sri Lankan family that befriended Clarke after he moved to the Asian nation in 1956, said the family felt "so privileged that you left your mark on us."
"Your footprint will never fade. If anything, it will only magnify what we do," she said at the service.
