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William Grove Skelly (Courtesy of the Museum of Oklahoma History) William Grove Skelly was born on June 10, 1878, in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of William Skelly and Mary Jane Sweatman, immigrants of Irish and English descent. One of six children, he grew up in modest circumstances where discipline and hard work were daily expectations. As a boy he contributed to the family income by selling newspapers on the streets of Erie and shoveling snow in the winter. He attended public schools before completing a business course at Clark's Business School, finishing the program in less than a year. His first experiences in the oil industry came at his father's side, hauling oilfield supplies over rough dirt roads with a horse-drawn wagon. Determined to learn the trade from the ground up, he later worked as a tool dresser in Venango County, Pennsylvania, earning $2.50 a day. Those years in the oil fields gave him firsthand knowledge of drilling, leases, and production, a foundation he carried with him for the rest of his career. In 1898 his ambitions were put on hold when he enlisted in the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Spanish–American War. He saw combat at the Battle of Coamo in Puerto Rico before returning home to civilian life. After the war Skelly entered the natural gas business in Indiana, becoming manager of the Citizens Gas Company in Gas City. There he was struck by the immense waste of natural gas being vented or burned off. Fascinated by George Westinghouse's pioneering work in transporting gas by pipeline, Skelly studied the system and later applied those lessons as natural gas became vital to his own operations. By the 1910s he was drilling independently, securing leases in Kansas and eventually establishing the Midland Refining Company in the El Dorado Field in 1916. With its success, he incorporated the Skelly Oil Company in 1919, selecting Tulsa, Oklahoma, as his headquarters. His company quickly grew into one of the largest independent petroleum firms in America. By the 1920s it was producing millions of barrels annually, operating pipelines, refineries, and hundreds of service stations across multiple states. Skelly Oil Headquarters Skelly was also known for his dealings in Osage County, where the Burbank Field became one of the most productive in the country. At the famous "Million Dollar Elm" auctions in Pawhuska, he successfully bid for leases and worked closely with the Osage Nation to ensure that royalties from oil sales were paid directly to tribal members. He also introduced conservation practices to preserve gas pressure and extend the productive life of wells. An auction held under the Million Dollar Elm for access to the Osage Nation’s oil. Courtesy the Bartlesville Area History Museum In addition to his oil interests, he became a civic leader and philanthropist. He served as president of the International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa from 1925 until his death, helping to promote the city as a global energy center. In 1928 he founded the Spartan School of Aeronautics, which trained pilots and mechanics and became a critical resource during World War II. He supported churches, hospitals, schools, and civic institutions throughout Tulsa and was remembered for quiet personal acts of generosity as well as large-scale gifts. In recognition of his contributions, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a resolution in 1955 describing him as "Tulsa's greatest asset." To many, he embodied both the rise of America's independent oilmen and the civic responsibility that accompanied great wealth. Skelly Mansion William Grove Skelly died on April 11, 1957, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of seventy-eight. He was entombed in the mausoleum at Rose Hill Memorial Park.

Matthew Wayne Shepard was born on December 1, 1976 in Casper, Wyoming, the first son of Dennis and Judy Shepard. His father worked in the oil industry and his mother was a community activist. He was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent his early childhood in Wyoming before the family moved when Dennis accepted a position with Saudi Aramco. The Shepards relocated to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where Matthew attended an international school before completing his secondary education at The American School in Switzerland, known as TASIS. He graduated in 1995. Friends and teachers later remembered him as sensitive, gentle, and interested in politics and global affairs. During a senior trip to Morocco he suffered a violent assault in Marrakesh, an experience that affected him deeply and led to struggles with depression and anxiety. After returning to the United States he enrolled first at Catawba College in North Carolina, later attending Casper College in Wyoming. He spent time in Colorado and ultimately enrolled at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. There he studied political science and became active in campus organizations, including the LGBTQ student group. Openly gay at a time when visibility still carried significant personal risk, he spoke of one day working in diplomacy or human rights advocacy. On the night of October 6, 1998 he went to the Fireside Lounge in Laramie. There he encountered two local men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, who claimed they were acting friendly and offered him a ride. Once in their truck they robbed him and drove him to a remote fence line outside the city. He was beaten severely, tied to the fence, and left exposed through the cold Wyoming night. A cyclist discovered him the following afternoon, at first mistaking him for a scarecrow until seeing movement. He was transported to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he remained in a coma. On October 12, 1998 Matthew Shepard died from his injuries at twenty-one years old. The fence Matthew was left to die on. The crime drew national and international attention. Candlelight vigils were held across the United States and abroad. His parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, became prominent voices calling for stronger protections against hate-motivated violence. In the aftermath they established the Matthew Shepard Foundation to promote LGBTQ+ equality, inclusion, and safety. The trials of his killers took place in 1999 in Laramie. Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and received two consecutive life sentences. Aaron McKinney went to trial, was convicted of felony murder, and also received two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole after the Shepard family requested that the death penalty not be pursued. His death inspired numerous cultural works including The Laramie Project, which premiered in 2000 and brought wider attention to the circumstances of the crime and the community’s response. Over the following years Matthew Shepard’s name became synonymous with the fight against hate crimes in the United States. On October 28, 2009 President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, expanding federal hate crime statutes to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. For many years after his death his ashes remained with his parents, who were reluctant to choose a final resting place out of concern that it might be vandalized by those who still harbored hatred. In 2018, twenty years after his murder, it was announced that his cremains would be interred at Washington National Cathedral in the District of Columbia. On October 26, 2018 a public service was held there, presided over by Episcopal bishops and attended by mourners from across the country. His ashes were laid to rest in the cathedral’s columbarium, giving him a permanent and protected resting place in a sacred national setting.

In the early 1890s Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly and her husband Hamilton McKown Twombly assembled farmland straddling Madison and the newly named Florham Park in Morris County, New Jersey, intending to create a country seat to rival the great houses of the Gilded Age. They retained McKim, Mead and White to design the residence and Frederick Law Olmsted to plan the grounds. Work began in the mid 1890s and the family took up residence before the decade closed, giving the estate a portmanteau name that joined their first names as Florham. The main house rose in red brick with limestone trim in a restrained classical idiom, with long symmetrical elevations, high chimneys, and a broad terrace overlooking formal gardens. Inside, suites of reception rooms opened off a grand hall, finishes included marble, carved oak, and decorative plaster, and service areas were organized to support a large household. Slideshow of exteriors of Florham By the turn of the twentieth century the estate functioned as a self contained domain. Outbuildings housed stables, carriage and later motor facilities, greenhouses, a powerhouse, and staff quarters. The Olmsted office laid out drives and sightlines that approached the house obliquely, then revealed long axial views across lawns framed by tree belts. The formal garden rooms nearest the terrace used stone balustrades, clipped hedging, and parterres, while the wider parkland transitioned to meadows and woodland. The farm side of the property supported prize livestock and orchards, and the social side supported seasonal entertaining, hunts, and large house parties, all managed by a domestic staff that numbered in the dozens. Hamilton Twombly died in 1910, and Florence Vanderbilt Twombly kept Florham as her primary country residence for the next four decades. She maintained the house in full order, continued to commission horticultural work on the gardens, and preserved the architectural character of the interiors. During the 1910s and 1920s the house received incremental modernization, with improved heating and lighting and an expanded garage and service court. The landscape matured into the intended composition as Olmsted’s tree plantings reached scale, and the formal gardens were replanted periodically to meet changing taste while retaining their original structure. Through the Depression years the estate remained in operation, albeit with a leaner staff, and during the Second World War some activities were curtailed while the house continued to serve as a family base. Slideshow of the interiors of Florham Florence Vanderbilt Twombly died in 1952, and the long process of dispersing the estate began soon after. Furnishings were auctioned, large peripheral tracts were subdivided, and several recreational components evolved into independent facilities. The core house with a substantial acreage survived intact. In 1958 Fairleigh Dickinson University acquired the principal buildings and surrounding grounds to establish its Florham campus. The university adapted the mansion for administrative and academic use, conserving major interiors such as the great hall, the former drawing rooms, and the ballroom, which became settings for campus events and public programs. Carriage houses and service buildings were repurposed for classrooms and support functions, and new academic buildings were placed to respect the historic axes and tree lines. Slideshow of the playhouse & Grounds of Florham From the late twentieth century onward preservation and restoration advanced in stages. Friends of Florham, a volunteer organization formed to support stewardship, documented the house and landscape, advocated for sensitive maintenance, and helped guide projects that repaired roofs, restored masonry, conserved ornamental ironwork, and revived garden features. The university reestablished planting schemes in the formal terraces, cleared views that Olmsted intended, and stabilized long runs of historic stonework. Interior work preserved original millwork and mantels while integrating modern building systems. Archival research clarified the sequence of alterations made during the Twombly years and informed choices about materials and finishes during repairs. A rare look at Florham with Joseph Donon & his wife when it was still the Twombly Mansion (Joseph Donon was Mrs. Twombly's private chef) Today the former Twombly mansion stands as the architectural and symbolic heart of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Florham campus. The building, widely recognized as one of the largest and most complete Gilded Age houses in New Jersey, retains its McKim, Mead and White character in plan and elevation. The grounds still read as an Olmsted landscape, with the approach drives, the framing tree belts, the open lawns, and the terraces that knit house to garden. The estate’s name endures in the campus identity, and the house continues to host academic life, lectures, exhibitions, and community gatherings. Period rooms that once served private entertaining now welcome students and visitors, while the surrounding gardens provide outdoor classrooms and quiet places for study. The continuity of use from private seat to educational institution has underpinned the long survival of both architecture and landscape, and ongoing stewardship keeps the Florham story legible, from its Gilded Age origins through mid century transition and into its present role. Photos courtesy of Fairleigh Dickinson University Archives

Edith Bouvier Beale known as "Big Edie" was born on October 5, 1895, in New York City, the daughter of John Vernou Bouvier Jr., a prominent lawyer and stockbroker, and Maude Sergeant Bouvier. She belonged to a socially elite family and was the aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Bouvier Radziwill. Edith Bouvier wedding photo In 1917 she married Phelan Beale, a lawyer and sportsman associated with her father's law firm. The couple lived first in Manhattan and later maintained a home on West End Avenue, participating in New York society and raising three children, including Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, as well as sons Phelan Beale Jr. and Bouvier Beale. The marriage, once socially prominent, became strained over time and Phelan Beale obtained a divorce by telegram from Mexico in 1946, leaving Edith with the East Hampton estate. In 1923 the Beales purchased Grey Gardens, a 28-room shingle-style mansion in East Hampton, New York, designed in 1897 by architect Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe. Vintage view of Grey Gardens The house became Edith’s beloved home and social retreat, where she entertained with music and gatherings in the early years. After her divorce she remained at Grey Gardens with her daughter Edith, while her two sons established professional careers elsewhere. Financial support dwindled and the property fell into disrepair as Edith devoted herself to her daughter and an increasingly private life. By the 1950s and 1960s mother and daughter were living largely in isolation with limited means. Their eccentric domestic world, filled with cats and raccoons and crumbling grandeur, eventually drew the attention of local authorities and the press. Edith with her portrait at Grey Gardens In the early 1970s public curiosity about the once grand estate grew after health inspectors intervened, prompting relatives, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, to help fund repairs to make the house habitable. In 1975 the documentary film Grey Gardens by Albert and David Maysles was released, focusing on the daily lives and bond between Edith and her daughter. The film brought them national attention and became a landmark in American documentary storytelling, preserving an intimate portrait of family, independence, and resilience. Edith Bouvier Beale died on February 5, 1977, at the age of 81, in Southampton Hospital and was remembered for her wit, her music, and her singular presence in one of the most famous family stories of the twentieth century.

Anna Nicole Smith Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston, Texas, on November 28, 1967. She was the daughter of Donald Eugene Hogan and Virgie Mae Tabers. Her early childhood was spent primarily in the small Texas town of Mexia after her parents separated. She was raised by her mother and extended family members and attended Mexia High School before leaving early and later earning her GED. Billy Wayne Smith & Vickie Lynn with Daniel At seventeen she married Billy Wayne Smith in 1985. The couple had one son, Daniel Wayne Smith, born in January 1986. The young family struggled financially and the marriage ended in divorce in 1993. Vickie returned to Houston where she worked in restaurants such as Jim’s Krispy Fried Chicken and Red Lobster before turning to modeling and dancing to support herself and her son. While working at a Houston club in 1991 she posed for professional photographs that were sent to Playboy magazine. In March 1992 she appeared on the cover and was later chosen as Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1993. Around this time she adopted the stage name Anna Nicole Smith. Her career quickly expanded into mainstream modeling. She signed with Guess Jeans and also modeled for H&M, Lane Bryant, and other brands. Her glamorous image was often styled to echo her idol Marilyn Monroe and she became a recognizable pop culture figure throughout the 1990s. Anna Nicole Smith in her Guess ad Smith pursued acting and appeared in several feature films. She had a cameo in The Hudsucker Proxy  (1994) and played a comedic role in Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult  (1994). Although her acting career was limited, her highly public persona attracted media attention and maintained her celebrity status. Anna marrying J. Howard In 1994 she married Texas oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall II, whom she had met while working as a dancer years earlier. Their marriage, given their sixty-three-year age difference, became national news. When Marshall died in 1995 she was drawn into a long legal battle over his estate. The dispute over inheritance lasted for more than a decade and eventually reached the United States Supreme Court in the case Marshall v. Marshall . During the early 2000s she remained in the spotlight. From 2002 to 2004 she starred in her own reality television series The Anna Nicole Show  on E! Entertainment Television. The program documented her personal and professional life and further increased public interest in her story. Her personal life was often marked by deep challenges. On September 7, 2006, she gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, in Nassau, Bahamas. Only three days later, on September 10, her twenty-year-old son Daniel died suddenly while visiting her in the hospital. His death, caused by an accidental drug overdose, left her devastated and struggling with grief. On February 8, 2007, Anna Nicole Smith died at the age of thirty-nine in Hollywood, Florida. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose of prescription medications. She was buried at Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Mausoleums in Nassau, Bahamas, next to her son Daniel, fulfilling her wish to keep them together.

John Vernou Bouvier III was born on May 19, 1891, in Manhattan, New York County, New York. He was an American Wall Street stockbroker and socialite, remembered as the father of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and socialite Lee Radziwill, and the father in law of President John F. Kennedy. Known by the nickname "Black Jack," he was recognized for his flamboyant lifestyle. Black Jack Bouvier's Yale University graduation portrait, taken in 1914. Descended from a family that cultivated an image of French aristocracy, Bouvier received an elite education befitting his social standing. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School before enrolling at Columbia University. He later transferred to Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School, where he was a member of the exclusive Book and Snake secret society and played varsity tennis. Graduating in 1914, he seamlessly entered the family business, joining his father and uncle’s Wall Street firm, Bouvier, Bouvier & Bouvier, to begin his career as a stockbroker. His burgeoning career was interrupted by World War I. Bouvier served his country first in the United States Navy before transferring to the United States Army, where he rose to the rank of Major in the Army Air Service. After his discharge in 1919, he returned to a booming Wall Street that perfectly suited his extravagant tastes. He thrived in the excess of the Roaring Twenties, but the 1929 stock market crash dealt a severe blow to his finances and his pride, a setback from which he never fully recovered. John "Black Jack' Bouvier During WWI (Circa 1917-1919) On July 7, 1928, Bouvier married the beautiful and socially ambitious Janet Norton Lee. Their union produced two daughters, Jacqueline Lee (born 1929) and Caroline Lee (born 1933). In their early years, Bouvier was a doting and indulgent father who encouraged his daughters' independence and spirit. However, the marriage itself was a clash of fire and ice; his chronic womanizing, heavy drinking, and reckless gambling were in direct conflict with Janet's desire for social stability. The strain proved unbearable, and their stormy marriage ended in a bitter divorce in 1940. The divorce marked a definitive turning point in Black Jack Bouvier's life. While he retained his Wall Street job, his standing within his own family was irrevocably altered. When Janet married the immensely wealthy Hugh D. Auchincloss two years later, his daughters were absorbed into a world of sprawling estates like "Merrywood" in Virginia and "Hammersmith Farm" in Newport. Compared to the Auchincloss fortune, Bouvier's finances were modest, and this disparity became a constant source of tension. He settled into a bachelor's life, maintaining an apartment at 125 East 74th Street in Manhattan. Janet, Jackie, & Black Jack His direct influence on his daughters' upbringing was actively curtailed by Janet, who controlled their schedules. Despite this, Bouvier fought to remain a significant presence, maintaining a faithful correspondence and seeing them for outings in New York. He represented a world of glamour and excitement that stood in stark contrast to the formal society of their stepfather. His diminished role was often on public display, such as at Jacqueline's 1947 debutante ball, where he was a mere guest at an event that should have been his to host. The most devastating episode of his later life occurred on Jacqueline's wedding day, September 12, 1953. Deeply concerned that Bouvier's alcoholism would cause a scene at the marriage to Senator John F. Kennedy, the family watched him closely. On the morning of the wedding, Bouvier began drinking heavily at his hotel. By the time he was meant to leave for the church in Newport, he was belligerently intoxicated and unable to perform his duties. The difficult decision was made to bar him from the ceremony. Jackie & her stepfather Hugh A heartbroken Jacqueline was informed just before she left for the church, and her stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss, walked her down the aisle instead. For Bouvier, it was the ultimate public humiliation. The final four years of his life were marked by increasing isolation and deteriorating health, as the wedding incident had severed many of his remaining social ties to the family. His lifelong heavy drinking finally caught up with him, and in the spring of 1957, he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. His daughters did visit him during his final weeks at Lenox Hill Hospital. He fell into a coma on August 1st and died two days later, on August 3, 1957, at the age of 66. He was laid to rest in the Bouvier family plot in East Hampton.

Composer and conductor. He was a five-time Academy Award recipient whose work helped define film music in the second half of the twentieth century. Born John Barry Prendergast in York, England, his father was the proprietor of a chain of cinemas, and his mother was a classically trained pianist, influences that shaped his lifelong connection to music and film. He studied piano and trumpet as a child and, while serving in the British Army, took a correspondence course in composition and orchestration that laid the foundation for his professional career. In 1957, he formed the rock group Johnny Barry and the Seven, which led to recording and arranging opportunities that soon brought him into the world of film. He became internationally recognized for his association with the James Bond franchise, beginning with his arrangement of Monty Norman's theme for "Dr. No" in 1962, and his scoring of "From Russia With Love" (1963) and subsequent films in the series. His distinctive style, marked by dramatic brass and lush strings, became synonymous with Bond's cinematic identity. Beyond Bond, he composed scores for a wide range of films across several decades. His early works included "The L-Shaped Room" (1962), "Zulu" (1964), and "Born Free" (1966), the latter earning him two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. He won further Oscars for "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Out of Africa" (1985), and "Dances with Wolves" (1990). He received additional Academy Award nominations for "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971) and "Chaplin" (1992), as well as Emmy Award nominations for the television specials "Elizabeth Taylor in London" (1963) and "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years" (1977). Other notable film scores included "The Chase" (1966), "Monte Walsh" (1970), "The Day of the Locust" (1975), "The Cotton Club" (1984), and music for the television series "The Persuaders!" and "The Adventurer." His contributions to cinema were widely regarded for their emotional depth, melodic richness, and ability to enhance the storytelling of the films he scored. Over the course of his career, he also received Grammy and Golden Globe Awards, cementing his reputation as one of the most influential film composers of his generation. He died in Oyster Bay, New York, at the age of seventy-seven and was laid to rest at Locust Valley Cemetery.

Ava Lowle Willing was born on September 15, 1868 in Newport, Rhode Island, the daughter of Edward Shippen Willing and Alice Caroline Barton. She came from an old and distinguished Philadelphia family with deep colonial roots. Through her father she descended from Thomas Willing, Revolutionary era mayor of Philadelphia and president of the First Bank of the United States, while her mother's family, the Bartons, were also prominent in Pennsylvania society. She grew up with her siblings John Rhea Barton Willing, Susan Ridgway Willing, and Edward Shippen Willing Jr. On February 17, 1891 she married Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in America. Their wedding was held at her parents' home in Philadelphia and was followed by a honeymoon in Europe. The couple were given a grand townhouse on Fifth Avenue in New York as a wedding gift from his parents. In 1896 they moved into the newly completed Astor double mansion on Fifth Avenue. After the death of his father William Backhouse Astor Jr., John Jacob inherited Ferncliff, the family's estate at Rhinebeck, and following the death of his mother Caroline Astor he came into possession of Beechwood, the Astor summer mansion in Newport. Together they had three children, William Vincent Astor, born in 1892, an infant son born and died in 1896, and Ava Alice Muriel Astor, born in 1902. By the later 1890s Ava had established herself as a presence in London society, often renting furnished houses during extended stays abroad. Although surrounded by wealth and luxury her marriage was not a happy one. In 1909 Ava filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion. The divorce was finalized in March 1910 with a settlement of ten million dollars, an extraordinary sum for the time. Custody of their children was divided, with Vincent remaining largely with his father and Muriel with her mother. In 1911 Ava returned to England with her daughter and settled there more permanently. At this time she leased Sutton Place, a Tudor country estate near Guildford, Surrey, which she maintained until 1919. In January 1912 she prepared to take up residence at 18 Grosvenor Square, her first permanent London townhouse after years of renting furnished properties; it was extensively redecorated to her specifications. Titanic On April 15, 1912, only a few months after she acquired her new London home, tragedy struck when her former husband, Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, lost his life in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Their son Vincent, then only twenty years old, inherited the majority of his father's estate and responsibilities. Though living in England, Ava returned to America at intervals to support her son while continuing to raise Muriel in London society. During the First World War she served with the American Women's War Relief Fund in Britain, holding the post of vice president and supporting hospitals and relief work. Thomas Lister, Baron Ribblesdale On June 3, 1919 she married Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale. By this marriage she was known as Lady Ribblesdale. The couple resided at her Grosvenor Square townhouse until his death in 1925. There were no children of the marriage. In the years that followed she divided her time between England and America. In 1935 she was reported in New York visiting from England and staying at her townhouse on East 38th Street. In 1938 she placed her large London home by Regent's Park, known as Regent's Lodge, on the market and that same winter was noted as a Palm Beach hostess at the Everglades Club. The Second World War brought her back to the United States for good. In June 1940 she arrived in New York aboard the SS President Roosevelt as a war refugee. In July 1940 she formally resumed American citizenship, renouncing the use of her British peeress title and taking the name Mrs. Ava Willing Ribblesdale. That December she was again in New York society, hosting dinners at the Iridium Room of the St. Regis attended by members of the Astor and Vanderbilt families. In November 1941 she leased an apartment at 420 Park Avenue, later making her home at 720 Park Avenue, where she continued to entertain and was remembered for quiet charitable work carried on without publicity. Ava Willing Ribblesdale Ava Lowle Willing Ribblesdale died on June 9, 1958 in New York City at the age of 89. She was buried at Locust Valley Cemetery in Nassau County, Long Island. Ava Willing Ribblesdale rests in Addition 2, Lot 174B of Locust Valley Cemetery

Frank E. Campbell Frank Ellis Campbell was born July 4, 1872 in Camp Point, Adams County, Illinois. He learned the funeral trade by making caskets in what he called an undertaker's shop, and at the age of twenty moved to New York City to work in funeral parlors run by a minister. Not long after, he opened his own establishment on 23rd Street near Eighth Avenue. At a time when most funerals were still held in private homes and the deceased were transported in horse-drawn wagons, Campbell modernized the profession. He was among the first to use motorized hearses and limousines, began placing paid death notices in newspapers, introduced women to embalming and directing, and even purchased a private yacht, The Hour Glass, for transporting remains and scattering ashes at sea. His reputation grew as he served prominent families and organized high-profile services. International attention followed the 1921 funeral of opera star Enrico Caruso. His name became permanently associated with celebrity funerals after the death of silent film idol Rudolph Valentino in 1926. Valentino's viewing in New York drew massive crowds and intense press coverage, making Campbell's funeral home widely known. The Funeral of Rudolph Valentino in the chapel at Frank E, Campbell Funeral Home Campbell died in Manhattan on January 19, 1934 at the age of sixty-one. He had arranged to be placed with his mother, Malvina, in the Bergen Crest Mausoleum in North Bergen, New Jersey, and his body was sealed in an oversized solid bronze casket. When the time came, the mausoleum crypts proved too small to receive the caskets. Instead of being entombed, both were left in a storage area under a stairway. There they remained, forgotten and unseen, for more than half a century. In the late 1980s, Eugene Schultz, then president of the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, discovered the situation while visiting Bergen Crest. He found the caskets blackened with age and still in the mausoleum's basement. Schultz spent years trying to have the building adapted to accept the remains but little progress was made. Eventually he located surviving relatives, including Frank Jr.'s widow in Florida and Frank's granddaughter Anne Campbell in Washington State, and secured permission for reinterment. With family consent and the cooperation of the funeral home's modern owners, arrangements were made to move Frank and his mother to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Each casket weighed about 1,400 pounds and required careful handling and cleaning. Frank & Malvina's Gravestone, Courtesy of Neil Funkhouser On October 3, 2001, after a proper service and full preparation, Frank Ellis Campbell and his mother were finally placed at rest in the Aster Plot, Section 210 at Woodlawn. After decades without a true burial place, both were given the dignified interment Campbell had originally intended. Here is a great write up in American Cemetery about the reburial

John Jacob “Jack” Astor IV was born July 13, 1864, at Ferncliff, the Astor family estate in Rhinebeck, New York. He was the youngest child of William Backhouse Astor Jr and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, remembered as “the Mrs. Astor,” the social leader of New York’s Gilded Age. Jack’s childhood was one of wealth and expectation. He was raised in the family’s brownstone at 350 Fifth Avenue, educated at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and later at Harvard University. After graduation he traveled in Europe, gaining the polish expected of a young man in his position. He wrote a futuristic novel, patented mechanical inventions, and later volunteered as a colonel during the Spanish American War. Ava Lowle Willing On February 17, 1891, he married Ava Lowle Willing of Philadelphia in a society wedding that joined two old-money families. They returned to live in New York, surrounded by the rituals of high society. Together they had three children, William Vincent Astor, an infant son who died in 1896, and Ava Alice Muriel Astor. After the death of his father in 1892, Jack inherited Ferncliff in Rhinebeck. There he made additions and built new wings, hosting guests for country weekends. When his mother chose to leave the old mansion at 350 Fifth Avenue, she commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design a new house on Fifth Avenue at 65th Street. Completed in 1896, it was a double mansion with identical wings, one side for Mrs. Astor and one side for Jack and his family. It became one of the architectural marvels of New York society, with Mrs. Astor holding court in her famous ballroom and Jack entertaining in his own wing. When she died in 1908, Jack inherited her Newport estate, Beechwood, and had Hunt’s double mansion renovated into one vast residence, uniting the two houses into a single palatial home that became his main residence in the city. The Astor Double Mansion at 840 and 841 Fifth Avenue Their marriage grew cold, and after nearly two decades Ava filed for divorce, granted in 1910, an event that filled newspaper columns with scandal and speculation. By then Jack was regarded as one of the richest men in America, with homes in New York and Newport, Ferncliff in the country, and vast real estate holdings. Madeleine Talmage Force In 1910, at Bar Harbor, Maine, Jack met the young debutante Madeleine Talmage Force while she was playing tennis with her sister. Despite their nearly thirty-year age difference, the two fell in love. Their wedding on September 9, 1911, at Beechwood in Newport was one of the most controversial unions of the age, condemned in society columns for its haste after his divorce and for Madeleine’s youth. Yet Jack and Madeleine left it all behind, traveling together on a grand honeymoon through Europe and Egypt. By the time they prepared to return in the spring of 1912, Madeleine was expecting their first child. They booked passage on the RMS Titanic, boarding at Cherbourg. On the night of April 14, 1912, after the collision with an iceberg, Jack assisted his young wife to the lifeboats. He asked if he might accompany her because she was with child, but was refused. Madeleine was placed in a boat and survived, but Jack remained on deck. He was last seen calm, smoking a cigarette as the great liner settled lower in the sea. He perished in the early hours of April 15. His body was recovered a week later by the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, identified as Body No. 124. The discovery was front-page news. On May 4, 1912, a funeral service was held at the Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck, where Jack had served as a Warden. The church was filled with lilies, roses, and palms, and society mourners crowded the pews. Dr. Ernest C. Saunders, the rector, conducted the service, assisted by Dr. William T. Manning of Trinity Church, New York. The service drew neighbors, friends, and notables from far beyond Dutchess County. Afterward, the casket was carried to Rhinecliff Station, where a special funeral train awaited. This train bore the casket and mourners down the Hudson to Manhattan, where waiting automobiles carried them to Trinity Church Cemetery. At the Astor family mausoleum, clergy and family gathered as Dr. Manning read the Episcopal burial office. The final commendation was spoken and Jack was laid to rest beside his mother and other Astor kin. The press described the scene in vivid detail: the special train, the veiled widow, the quiet dignity of Vincent Astor, and the hush among the crowd of hundreds who watched America bury one of its richest and most famous men. The Astor Mausoleum at Trinity Cemetery In August 1912 Madeleine gave birth to his son, John Jacob Astor VI, remembered as the “Titanic Baby.”

Kiki Preston (October 8, 1896 - December 23, 1946) Her drug addiction earned her the nickname "the girl with the silver syringe". Kiki was born in Chatou, France, the daughter of Edward Erskine Gwynne, Sr. and his wife Helen Steele. Preston's mother was a great-granddaughter of Justice Samuel Chase, one of the signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, as well as a granddaughter of Joshua Barney, commodore of the United States Navy during the American Revolutionary War. She was descended from Peter Jacquette, the second Dutch governor of Delaware. Preston's father was the nephew of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt). Alice "kiki" Gwynne in 1919, Kiki married Horace R. Bigelow Allen. They had a daughter, Alice Gwynne Allen, and a son, Ethan Allen. In November 1924, Kiki applied for divorce at the Paris courts, on the grounds of desertion. Horace Ransom Bigelow Allen In April 1925, Kiki married investment banker Jerome "Gerry" Preston. Kiki had many lovers during that time, including actor Rudolph Valentino and Prince George, Duke of Kent, whom she first met in the mid-1920s. Through 1928, she introduced him to cocaine and morphine among other drugs. In the 1930s and 1940s, Kiki experienced a long string of tragic losses, as many people from her circle of relatives and friends found untimely deaths. Previously, in May 1929, her 30-year-old brother, Erskine almost died of a heart attack. Kiki rushed back to Paris to be by his side, since it was believed he was close to dying. Erskine ultimately survived. Erskine Gwynne On November 16, 1933, her cousin, 26-year-old socialite William Kissam Vanderbilt III , was killed in a car accident; her brother, Erskine, was also in the car, but suffered minor injuries. In August 1935, Erskine was in another accident, when the car he was driving collided with a truck, injuring three. He was tried and fined 50 dollars and also sentenced to a thirty-day suspended sentence. On account of that accident, Erskine later suffered a paralysis in 1938. He died on May 5th 1948. On May 28, 1934, Kiki's husband, Jerome died at Hotel Pierre, in New York, aged 37, making her a widow at the age of 36. In February 1937, her brother-in-law (Jerome's brother), sportsman Lewis Thompson Preston also died, at age 37. On January 25, 1941, her friend, 22nd Earl of Erroll , aged 39, was mysteriously murdered in Kenya. Later that year, on September 30, her friend and fellow American expatriate in Paris, Alice Silverthorne de Janzé , committed suicide with a firearm. On 25 August 1942, her former lover, Prince George , was killed in a plane accident, aged 39. Stanhope Hotel After suffering from mental disorders for several years, Kiki committed suicide on the night of December 23, 1946, jumping out of a window of her fifth-floor apartment in the Stanhope Hotel of New York City and landing in a courtyard of the hotel. According to her companion, Lillian Turner, Kiki had been in poor health, depressed and nervous. Turner had just given Preston a glass of milk and then went into the living room of the apartment to read. When she heard no sounds coming from Kiki's bedroom, she entered it, only to find a window open and Kiki gone. Kiki's pajama-clad body was soon discovered in an areaway behind the hotel. Preston's mother, Helen Steele, was also living at the same hotel at the time. Alice "kiki' Gwynne Preston was cremated, Her ashes and that of her father, mother, and brother were interred in the Gwynne family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, Ny. Edward, Alice, & Erskine's names are inscribed, Her mother who survived them all has no inscription. The Gwynne family plot, Evergreen Plot, Section 36 of The Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY.

Edward Julius Berwind (June 17, 1848 - August 18, 1936) Edward Julius Berwind was an American business magnate and one of the most prominent coal operators of the Gilded Age. He was born in Philadelphia on June 17, 1848. Appointed to the United States Naval Academy by President Abraham Lincoln, he later served as a naval aide during the Grant administration before leaving the service to enter business. Together with his brother Charles F. Berwind and Judge Allison White, he organized the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company . Working closely with financier J. P. Morgan , the firm consolidated and expanded coal operations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Colorado. At its height, Berwind was regarded as the largest individual owner of coal properties in the world. His company towns included Windber in Pennsylvania, its name formed from a transposition of "Berwind," and Berwind in West Virginia, which housed thousands of miners and their families. Subsidiaries such as the Kyber Coal Company in Kentucky also carried his name. Peter Arrell Browne Widener The company supplied much of the coal used by the United States Navy, and through his business partnerships with Peter A. B. Widener , Berwind was involved in the establishment of the New York subway system. He also served as a director of the International Mercantile Marine Company, which owned the White Star Line and by extension the Titanic. He wielded enormous influence over the steamship business in both New York and Philadelphia. Berwind was known as an inflexible employer who refused to bargain with labor unions and maintained closed-shop policies in the coal fields. During the 1922 coal strike, his company imposed wage reductions of up to 54 percent, and striking workers were ordered to vacate company-owned housing within five days, forcing many families into temporary tent settlements. His reputation as a "robber baron" was shaped by such practices, though his company endured, and the Berwind Corporation continues today as a family-owned business managing vast real estate holdings and mineral rights. Sarah Vesta Herminie Torrey In 1886, Berwind was married to Sarah Vesta Herminie Torrey in Leghorn , Italy . The couple never had children, Sarah died in 1922. His personal life reflected the grandeur of the Gilded Age, expressed most vividly through his residences. In Philadelphia, he maintained a distinguished townhouse that reflected his family’s long ties to that city. In Manhattan, he commissioned a grand limestone mansion at Fifth Avenue and East 64th Street, completed in 1896. Berwind Mansion, Manhattan, New York Designed in the French Beaux-Arts style by architect Nathan Clark Mellen, the house was one of the largest private residences built in New York during the era. Its double-height ballroom, ornate interiors, and prominent location made it a showplace of Fifth Avenue society. In Newport, Rhode Island, he commissioned Horace Trumbauer to design The Elms, a summer residence modeled after the Château d’Asnières near Paris, completed in 1901. This estate, staffed by dozens of servants and set within elaborate formal gardens, became one of the grand symbols of Newport society and remains preserved today as a National Historic Landmark. The elms, Newport Rhode Island Edward Julius Berwind died in Manhattan on August 18, 1936, at the age of 88. He was entombed in the Berwind Mausoleum at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. The mausoleum, modeled after the Tower of the Winds in Athens, was designed by Horace Trumbauer and built by Presbrey Leland, standing as an enduring monument to his wealth and legacy. Berwind Mausoleum, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Berwind Mausoleum, Details & Inscription Above The Door Interior View of the Berwind Mausoleum