OLD FASHIONED FUNERAL IN COBBLE HILL RESIDENCE

Since the late Virginia Pearson had been born in the home where she died in Brooklyn, and since the elegant brownstone, owned by the family for four generations, had been the site of Virginia's grandmother's funeral many decades earlier, an open-casket viewing and funeral service in the front parlor seemed the best solution to Virginia's surviving children--Roy, Gina, and Andrew. Friends and neighbors from all over Brooklyn descended on the family abode for a visit with Virginia, catered meal, armchair homily from an uncommonly erudite Catholic priest, while the peaceful, soothing music of 1950s vocalist Joni James was played throughout the unforgettable evening. "It doesn't get any better than this," said Father Michael, and boy, was he right. Prayers, tears of farewell, and Victorian mourning biscuits followed at Calvary Cemetery, two mornings afterward.

Flowers by Sophia and Fonda of Zuzu's Petals