“If the uninvited show up at a big service, I tend to let them in, but I try to let the family know,” says Carolyn Peachey, a Washington, DC, event specialist who has overseen memorial services for Tim Russert, Richard Holbrooke, and Ben Bradlee. Ordinarily, grieving admirers would have packed Frank E. Campbell’s chapel, or any similar venue, to say their goodbyes to her. When Rudolf Valentino died in 1926, thousands of mourners (it was rumored that many of them were hired by Campbell to attend) broke into a riot and stormed the chapel to see his flower-strewn casket. Since the turn of the last century, Campbell has held some of the city’s most opulent and memorable ceremonies. ), “It cost me $18,000 for each parent, so that’s $36,000 for the cremations and two little niches,” he says. “It’s challenging to get someone notable,” he says. Hers included 2,400 guests and the New York Pops; his featured a marching band at Avery Fisher Hall. —Cornelia Guest. When his mother passed away in 2007, she left no stipulations for her funeral beyond cremation. Celebrity Funerals Are the New Royal Weddings, How the Royals Are Handling the Coronavirus Crisis, How to Watch John McCain's Funeral Services. Admit it. “That could be a catered event with food and with flowers and musicians and a full multimedia component to celebrate their life.”. For his good friend Saul Steinberg, trumpets played the Battle Hymn of the Republic as pallbearers lifted his casket. The traffic on Fifth Avenue had been stopped for blocks around St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and I was part of a small crowd taking in the imposing occasion of the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the retired archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Instead, she is a producer for Late Night with Seth Meyers — though she does have an enviable sense of style, probably thanks to her mom. You may not know his name but you’ve certainly seen the people he works with. The fashion world, meanwhile, took over Milan’s Duomo for Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani’s memorial in February. In the past couple of years Jones put the ashes of both his parents in urns in a modest niche. “But it was the coolest space on the planet for a memorial.”. Heartbreaking Photos of Princess Diana's Funeral, Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher Joint Funeral, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. If anything can happen to you at a funeral parlor, the same can be said when you’re planning the funeral, too. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union. At Manhattan's venerable Frank E. Campbell Chapel, there are no more large-scale gatherings—or status funerals. Instead, they posted to her Facebook page—hundreds of heartfelt notes to and about her written by close friends, admirers, and fellow writers. But Hollywood, as always, does it differently. While video conferencing may offer solace for immediate friends, it does not help people in the deceased’s wider circle or, in the case of public figures, members of the public who want to pay respects. Christopher Buckley, the author and only child of Patricia and William F. Buckley Jr., is a modest man. Maybe right now, when we’re all stuck at home, it’s the best we can do.”. New Details On Shelby Bryan.

“What a waste of money,” I heard another say. “I was on the fence,” said one Campbell client who held a service for her father at the chapel in late April, but decided to go camera-free. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. “Kobe Bryant’s was a month after his death,” she said about the February memorial service for the basketball star and his daughter Gianna at the Staples Center. Who is Bee Shaffer's husband? Bee Shaffer and Francesco Carrozini tied the knot last summer and brought together the legacy of Vogue and Vogue Italia. Heads of state and religious figures, after all, are supposed to have imposing funerals. This presents a dilemma for Villanova who, along with his role at the association, runs the 114-year-old Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in New York City.

“The good news is that we had already invested in state-of-the-art video equipment,” says Villanova.

Shaffer isn’t a fashion pro. Bob Morris is a T&C contributor and  the author of Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating With My Dad and Bobby Wonderful: An Imperfect Son Says Goodbye. What surprises me more these days is how ornate death has become for private citizens, with one dazzling service after the next as if it were ball season in Vienna. How did this happen? “Anything” has included a mariachi band and a flock of doves. People don’t plan ahead, which is a shame, because funerals are such an important ritual.