She died in a Manhattan penthouse but was buried on an island for the poor
The Washington Post, July 2, 2022: She died in a Manhattan penthouse but was buried on an island for the poor
“Valerie Griffith’s final journey began on a battered ferry, a floating hearse bound for a most unusual island.
“Nobody lives on Hart Island, a scruffy one-mile slice of land in Long Island Sound that New York’s tabloids call ‘Forgotten Island,’ ‘Haunted Island’ and ‘Isle of Tears.’
“For 150 years, it’s been known as the place where the city buries its penniless — not art collectors like Griffith.
“But on Dec. 7, 2020, Griffith’s coffin arrived at Hart Island’s dock and was loaded onto a truck for a quick drive to a trench the size of a tennis court. There, on a cold and wet morning, gravediggers lowered her simple wooden coffin into the muddy ground. No relative or friend was present and there was no mention of her remarkable life: how the English-born Griffith had helped the U.S. military during World War II, exposed antisemitism in the United States and married an American spy.
“Griffith was simply No. 14 in plot No. 414.”
Additional reading:
The New York Times, March 16, 2022: ‘Hart Island’ Gives Voice to Stories That Might Otherwise Be Lost
The City, November 18, 2021: Hart Island Burials Taken Over By Tree Landscapers, Uprooting Families’ Hopes for Transformation
