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1,500 ARE AT FUNERAL FOR MRS. FIERMONTE

New York Times

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500 Wait in the Street During Rites at St. Bartholomew's
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Funeral services for Mrs. Madeleine Force Astor Dick Fiermonte, who died suddenly on Wednesday in Palm Beach, Fla., were held yesterday in St. Bartholomew's Church. About 1,500 persons attended the services, while a throng of about 500 onlookers stood in the street outside.

The Rev. Dr. George Paull [sic] T. Sargent, rector of St. Bartholomew's, who officiated, used the regular Episcopal Prayer Book burial service. He selected the Fourteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John for his reading of the lesson.

During the service, the church choir of sixty voices, under the direction of the organist, David McK. Williams, provided musical accompaniment. The selections were the hymns, "Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand", "Abide with Me," "Hark, Hark My Soul"; the Twenty-third Psalm; an anthem, "I Heard a Voice," by John Goss; and Stainer's Seven-fold Amen.

The coffin, which rested before the altar, was covered with a blanket of red roses and purple orchids. Flanking it, on each side, stood an eight-foot cross made of lilies.

Among those present at the service were John Jacob Astor 3d, Mrs. Fiermonte's son by her first husband, and William and John H. Dick, sons by her marriage to the late William K. Dick. Others included Mrs. Lorillard Spencer, her sister, and Mrs. Spencer's children, Stephen; Billy and Miss Kay; Mrs. John J. Astor 3d; Mr. and Mrs. Lyndon Dodge, cousins; Mrs. Francis Dodge Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Francis Dodge, and Miss Virginia Dodge.

Also, Mrs. Orme Wilson, sister of the late Colonel John Jacob Astor; Mrs. Lorillard Spencer Sr., Mrs. Richard Aldrich, Mrs. R. Thornton Wilson, Mrs. J. N. Borland, Mrs. Casimir de Rham, the Misses Mildred and Helen Fish, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Talmage, Henry Fish and Mr. and Mrs. Hunt Talmage.

The brief commitment service at Trinity Cemetery was conducted by Dr. Sargent.

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Madeleine Talmage Astor

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Encyclopedia Titanica (2004) 1,500 ARE AT FUNERAL FOR MRS. FIERMONTE (New York Times, Tuesday 2nd April 1940, ref: #3423, published 11 August 2004, generated 13th December 2024 08:10:50 AM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/1500-are-at-funeral-for-mrs-fiermonte.html