Farewell to Gracie

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 8

Farewell to Gracie

NZPA-Reuter Capri i ] A happj' holiday island went into mourning at the I week-end for the funeral of : Dame Gracie Fields. [ Nearly 200 people fol- ■ [lowed the hearse carrying ’ her body to the cemetery carved in a hillside on the i rocky paradise island of Caori on Saturday, Gracie Fields, who was 81, sang her way into the hearts of millions in a career [ spanning more than 60 b years. But. though her life it was full of music, there was I no singing at the simple [ funeral service. The funeral was to havej been a family affiar, relat- [

ives from England joining her husband at the service. “She wouldn’t of liked any fuss, that was her way,” said her husband. Boris Alperovich But scores of islanders turned out to say farewell to “Our Gracie.” Father Edward Holland, a Church of England priest, who has made his home in Naples, conducted the service in a small chapel at the cemetery high on a hill at [ Anacapri. 3km from the villa i : which had been Dame’ ■ Grade's home. He echoed the feelings of, I all those who knew the sing ! [ing star when he said:, [“Thank you, Lord, for the I life of Gracie, Thank you fori

the warmth and joy she [brought into the lives of so many. “Thank you for her goodness and kindness. Thank you for her talents and dignity and appreciation of beautiful things of this world and for all she had given to the world, and especially to those who knew her. The body was sealed in a hand-carved casket lined with stainless steel. i Six pall-bearers dressed in [white T-shirts and black [trousers, who worked at Dame Gracie’s restaurant land swimming pool, brought The coffin from her home, the white-walled Villa CanI zone (“House of Song”).