Posted on 08/17/2007 7:15:04 PM PDT by mgstarr
Fifteen years ago, at the age of 90, Brooke Astor issued a letter to her executors in which she laid out instructions for her funeral. Her second husband, Charles Marshall, had done the same thing before his own death in 1952, “and it was a great comfort to know that I was doing exactly what he wanted,” she wrote.
Mrs. Astor, the socialite and philanthropist who died on Monday, expressed her wishes for “a regular Episcopal service” at St. Thomas Church, on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, and went on, in the letter, to make specific requests for hymns, prayers, readings, ushers and her burial.
The funeral is to take place at St. Thomas today at 2:30 p.m. It will be open to the public, with as many as 500 seats reserved for Mrs. Astor’s friends and family, said an assistant to Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall. Mr. Marshall organized the funeral.
Mrs. Astor’s letter to her executors, however, which bears her underlined signature, “Brooke Russell Astor,” and is dated June 9, 1992, reflects a happy time and a matriarch with no feelings of conflict over her succession.
“When I first assembled these thoughts, I was sitting at my home at Cove Neck, Maine, watching Tony play croquet,” she writes in the final paragraph. “It was the loveliest afternoon, although a bit chilly. I want you all to know that I am terribly happy and am not in the least bit afraid to die. Death is nothing and life everything. That’s all.”
The letter includes Mrs. Astor’s preference that her funeral follow not the “new” Book of Common Prayer, “but a real E/piscopal service from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.” She requests four hymns to be sung, beginning with “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The prayer book and my favorite hymn (289).
Classy lady.
Obviously a woman who had settled the issue long ago. God bless her and keep her.
Affirmation of St. Louis (1977).
Although she has been “off the scene” over the past 15 years, Mrs. Astor work for everything from the parks (at a time when they were abandoned to the junkies and prostis), the museums (at a time where they were on the brink of closing for half the week) and, yes, the homeless will forever be remembered by at least some of us. A wonderful woman, and I’m sure she went away wishing that her son and grandson could patch things up.
You and hear the service and see the printed program here-
http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/Stream.html
You and hear the service and see the printed program here-
http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/Stream.html
Anglican/Episcopal ping worthy?
Thanks for posting that.....she seemed to have been a classy lady....the poem she wrote, when she was 15....would have been in 1917.
Thank you hi ho!
Thank you hi ho!
http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/funeral.pdf
Interesting. I knew her fathter was a Marine; did not know he had been Commandant. Thanks for posting.
Will ping later (too hard to access the ping list from the old blackberry!)
St Thomas has one of the great choir schools in the country. Despite the unfortunate theology of of the church, there is still a sufficient respect for certain liturgical traditions that some hope remains.
That’s the way to go! I think I’ll go make MY arrangements : )
“Despite the unfortunate theology of of the church, there is still a sufficient respect for certain liturgical traditions that some hope remains.”
Well, the second lesson concluded with: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (Don’t hear that much in an Episcopal church.)
I have been a regular listener to their services, they sound quite orthodox and it would be hard for me to believe that they are not believers in the orthodox Anglican tradition.
I have to say that if St. Thomas Church were in my diocese the bishop would be using his crozier on the doors — not seeking admittance, but asking for the keys.
That is very encouraging!.
Try this for a different take on St. Thomas’ orthodoxy.
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid47123.asp
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