June 2021

Page A34 JUNE 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A www. vischerfuneralsupplies.com A native of New York City and a student at Columbia University, Lou Gehrig signed with the Yankees in 1923. He set several major-league records during his career, in- cluding the most career grand slams (23) (since broken by Alex Rodriguez) and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long- considered unbreakable until Cal Ripken Jr., surpassed it in 1995. Gehrig’s consecutive game streak ended on May 2, 1939, when he voluntarily took himself out of the line- up, stunning both players and fans, after his performance on the field became hampered by his illness. Crippling ALS forced him to retire at age 36, and caused his death two years later. The pathos of his farewell from baseball was capped off by his iconic 1939 “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech at Yankee Stadium. That same day, the Yankees retired Gehrig’s number “4”, mak- ing him the first player in Major League Baseball history to be accorded that honor. In 1969, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted Gehrig the greatest first baseman of all time. He also was the leading vote-getter on the MLB All-Century Team chosen by fans in 1999. The story of Eleanor and Lou Gehrig inspired the 1942 movie, Pride of the Yankees , starring Gary Cooper as Gehrig. and pillow made by the Gleason Co .) in the nave of the Christ Episcopal Church, 252nd Street in the Fieldston section of the Bronx. Joining a sobbing Babe Ruth and several other well-known MLB players were more than 5,000 fans, coming from all walks of life, who filed by their hero for one final look at the unforgettable “Iron Horse” the night before the funeral. His simple, semi-private funeral service, officiat- ed by The Rev. George V. Barry, was held for fam- ily and close friends. There was no eulogy because everyone knew Lou, and no music other than the steady beating of rain against the stained-glass windows of the tiny nave. Outside, hundreds of mourners stood in the rain, chanting, “Yah, Lou.” The list of honorary pallbearers was headed by New York City Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia, Gehrig’s four doc- tors from the Mayo Clinic and Yankees’ President Ed Barrow. Also attending were Will Harridge, president of the American League, and Leslie O’Connor, who as secre- tary to Baseball Commissioner K. M. Land, represented the commissioner’s office. Harridge said flags would be at half-mast during all American League games Wednesday. The casket was a 980 solid black walnut hinge panel, square corner with modest carved corners. The handles were hand-cast and plated with a two-toned bronze fin- ish. Covered with a blanket of scarlet roses, the casket was made by the Boyertown Burial Casket Company . After the brief ceremony, a procession accompanied Gehrig’s casket to the Fresh Pond Crematory in Middle Village, Queens, New York. There, a 10-min- ute service was held at the Fresh Pond cha- pel while an organist played “In the Garden of Tomorrow” and Rob- ert Schumann’s “Trau- merei.” Eleanor Gehrig kept Lou’s cremated remains until they were inurned at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, West- chester County, New York. Eleanor never remarried and died at age 80 in 1984. She now lies with her beloved husband at Kensico Cemetery. After a two-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable neuromuscular ill- ness now commonly referred to in North America as “Lou Geh- rig’s disease,” the much-loved first baseman died at his home on 5304 Delafield Avenue in the Bronx, on June 2, 1941, surrounded by family and friends. As a sports columnist reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the June 3, 1941 edition, “The big, handsome fellow, who was a marvel of power and endurance for 14 years as the first baseman of the New York Yankees, died last night at his home in the Bronx after an illness of two years from a rare and apparently incurable disease, described as hardening of the spi- nal cord that caused the fluid in his spi- nal column to hard- en and his muscles to shrivel.” The end came 17 days before Lou would have been 38 years old. His fight with ALS was as dra- matic and coura- geous as any of his exploits in baseball stadia around the country. Right up until the time he fell into a coma the day before his death, Gehrig never acknowledged that he was licked. But others knew that he was waging a losing fight and when death came, his wife and close relatives were gath- ered at the bedside. Babe Ruth and his wife were among the first to arrive at the Gehrig home, offering their support to Eleanor. Arrangements for Gehrig’s funeral were made with E. Wil- lis Scott Funeral Parlor at 4 West 76th Street. Gehrig’s remains were placed in repose on a Gleason Couch (cooling board with crushed velvet drapes, blanket FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at An award-winning writer, Alice Adams has chronicled the men and women in funeral service for more than two decades. “My goal has always been to recognize funeral directors and cemeterians who self - lessly assist families during times of their darkest grief,” she said. Since 2018, Alice has teamed with fellow historian and photographer Jim Kurtz to tracing the much ignored and neglected beginnings of the funeral service profession. Adams resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, where she enjoys her children, four grandchildren, Cassie, the Black Lab and two cats – all three rescues. Jim Kurtz has been a funeral director in Texas since 1973 and is president of TFDA’s North Texas Region. He is a historian and educator, he founded the Jim Kurtz Museum of Funeral History and archives in Dallas, Texas. Jim Kurtz Alice Adams Appropriate to Greatness: Caskets of the Rich and Famous Written and researched by Alice Adams and Jim Kurtz There have been many good books written about the deaths of the rich and famous. However, none have taken the viewpoint of the funeral service professional or cemeterian. In this series, we hope to accomplish exactly that with the little-known details, obscure facts and citations we have found in our research. We’re excited to share our findings. H enry L ouis G ehrig First Baseman for the New York Yankees T he I ron H orse Six World Series Championships and Seventeen Seasons in Major League Baseball J une 19, 1903 - J une 2, 1941 The body of Lou Gehrig lays in state at Christ Episcopal Church before be- ing cremated. Babe Ruth pays his last respects The 980HP by Boyerstown Burial Casket Company News Educational ContinueD Kates-Boylston Publications to Host Technology Think Tank and Cremation Innovations Summit Jon O’Hara Craig Carpenter WALL,NJ— When at- tendees come to the Tech- nology Think Tank, Sep- tember 9, at the Marriott Providencet Downtown, they’ll leave energized to tackle business challenges, leverage technology, and provide families with the personal touch they need. “We have an all-star line- up that will focus on ev- erything from using tech- nology to boost preneed, how to leverage Facebook Continued on Page A35 to build brand awareness, ways cemetery mapping can help families, and how technology can make it easy to manage trust assets and overall business oper- ations,” said Allison Sul- livan, the longtime pub- lisher of Kates-Boylston Publications. Speakers at the Think Tank include: Welton Hong, founder of Ring Ring Marketing, who has Class Officers and Administrators: PO Box 5159 Youngstown, OH 44514 Fax 1-800-321-9040 Email info@nomispublications.com FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Send Us Your News!