"Where History Comes Alive..."
Follow us on our social media!
127-15 Kew Gardens Road
Kew Gardens, New York,11415
Friends Organization
Est. Nov. 30, 2005
(347) 878-6613
The Notable Figures of History Buried at
Maple Grove Cemetery
Helpful Tip: Click the buttons to redirect to a fuller biography.
This page will be updated frequently to record more stories!
"Images of America: Maple Grove Cemetery" by Carl Ballenas and Nancy Cataldi, published in 2006, offers a detailed description of Maple Grove Cemetery.
It can be found at major bookstores and online!
Sam Loyd
(January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911)
​
Born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American chess player,
chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. He became known as “America’s Puzzle King.” As a chess composer, he authored several chess problems, often with interesting themes.
​
At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US, and was ranked 15th in the world, according tochessmetrics.com. Loyd was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 1987. Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son. His son, named after his father, started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles.
Sam Loyd is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, NY. The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery honor the memory of Sam Loyd. Please visit the samloyd.com website to learn more!
The Tunnell Family
(Honoring the 111-year-old, Millie Tunnell.)
​
Maple Grove witnessed an era of immense racism and enslavement. Freed African Americans, such as Millie Tunnell, who was born into slavery, navigated the turbulent Civil War era. Her resting site is no longer unmarked and can be recognized in South Border. The Friends of Maple Grove is so proud to honor and preserve the memory of Millie Tunnell and her family.
​
To learn more about this amazing story, please click on the link below. This couldn't have been done without the help of the Kew-Forest School and the Increase Carpenter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
CPT. Alonzo Adams
(March 1st, 1838 - January 14th, 1913)
Born in Eastport, Maine, Adams was a major master mariner throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Adams discovered Swan Island off the coast of Honduras in 1904 and staked a claim to it. Thus, he became known as the King of Swan Island.
​
Moving his wife, Josephine, and son, Wallace, to this island, he lived comfortably and made a fortune by trading guano, a rich natural fertilizer, with European and American traders. His contributions to the island included adding a lighthouse to warn vessels of the dangerous shore, in addition to building a radio station.
​
Finally, he sold the islands to a Boston group and retired peacefully in East Hampton, Connecticut. He is now buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, memorializing his wonderful legacy.
Minnie Allen
(1890 - 1979)
Born in Canada in 1880, Minnie was beloved for her stage performances in comedy, singing, and acting. In her early career, she was supported and guided by Sarah Bernhard, allowing her to spontaneously come into the spotlight. She became one of the first prominent actresses to make sound recordings and act in motion pictures, in addition to her touring around the world for theatrical performances.
​
One of her major performances included her routine comedy and singing at the Grand-Keith's Vaudeville. The news headline described Minnie's personality as dainty and comedic, making her beloved during her peak. Minnie's stardom had brought her to play at the prestigious Palace Theater, which hosted such stars as Harry Houdini, Ethel Barrymore, and Diana Ross.
Her last public appearance was on the Milton Berle TV show in 1951. After enduring three marriages, she was laid to rest in Maple Grove at the age of 80. Her performances continue to shine eternally.
Fannie M. Smith Anthony
(June 27th, 1827 - May 26th, 1914)
Born in Manhattan, NY, in 1827, Fannie became the stewardess of the steamship, the Mary Powell, on the Hudson River around 1869. She was the only female staff member aboard the ship and took care of all the passengers who journeyed on the Hudson River.
​
In an article dated September 17th, 1894, titled "Compliments for a Jamaica Woman," Fannie is recognized for having a cheery and amiable personality, having worked on the steamer Mary Powell as its stewardess for 25 years.
Joseph Arkwright
(August 24th, 1839 - April 19th, 1922)
Joseph is the great-grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), a co-inventor of the spinning frame and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. Sir Richard also patented a rotary carding engine to convert raw cotton to thread yarn. He was the first to develop factories housing both mechanized carding and spinning operations. The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibers such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way.
Dr. Sum Nung Au Young
(September 18th, 1893 - May 24th, 1943)
In 1927, Dr. Au Young moved from China to the United States. He published his first poem, "Tao," in the New York Times in July 1927. His collection of 50poems, his first book of verse, includes "To Edgar Allen Poe," a piece first read at the banquet held by the Edgar Allen Poe Society to mark Poe's 120th Anniversary. His second collection was "The Marriage of the Son and Moon (1938), and in the same year, he published Lao Tze's Tao Teh King: The Bible of Taoism, the first English translation of Taoism's foundational text by a Chinese Scholar. From the catalog listing for "The Rolling Pearl."
Neva Aymar O'Connor
(April, 1889 - February 1st, 1932)
Neva was a talented Broadway star during the famed Vaudeville era of theater. She appeared in many stage productions, films, and even preformed alongsided famous Vaudevillian star Sam Bernard. At the height of her career, she preformed inWashington DC with the Vaudevillian before meeting her future husband, famous jockey Winnie O'Connor. She traveled throughout Europe from 1916 to 1930, before returning to the United States. It was then that she passed away due to tuberculosis, and resides at Maple Grove with an unmarked grave, likely due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, causing O'Connor to lose his assets.
Eleanor Cunningham Bannister
(October 3rd, 1858 - January 20th, 1939)
A professionally trained portrait painter who worked in Brooklyn for nearly fifty years. Born in Manhattan, she was the daughter of artist and engraver James Banister and the sister of architect William Banister.
She studied at the Packer Collegiate Institute, Adelphi Academy, and the Julian Art Schools in Paris, where she earned a medal for figure painting. Returning to Brooklyn, she opened her own studio and became known for portraits of the borough’s civic, educational, and religious leaders.
Her work is represented in the Brooklyn Museum and at the Packer Institute, and includes portraits of the Pratt family.
Nikos Bel-Jon
(March 20th, 1911 - August 11th, 1966)
A Greek American artist best known for his large-scale metal murals. Born in Greece as Nicholaos Fotios Baloyannis, he earned a Master of Arts from the School of Fine Arts in Athens and continued advanced studies in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École du Louvre.
After serving in the Greek army during World War II, he emigrated to the United States in 1946. Working in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, Bel-Jon developed innovative aluminum mural techniques and received major commissions from corporations and institutions, including Pfizer, U.S. Steel, Air India, the FBI, and the Royal Greek Consulate.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1952 and was awarded a Medal of Art by the Hellenic Republic of Greece in 1964.
Charles Burke Bishop
(1833 - October 9th, 1889)
A widely known American stage actor of the 19th century, celebrated especially as a Shakespearean comedian. Born in Baltimore, he performed throughout the United States, gaining popularity in the South before achieving major success in New York and San Francisco. One of his most notable roles was Pistol in Henry V, staged by English actor George Rignold.
In an unusual dual career, Bishop also trained as a physician and surgeon, earning his medical diploma while continuing to perform. He was known in theatrical circles as “The Doctor” and frequently treated fellow actors without charge.
Bishop was a close friend of John Wilkes Booth and assisted in identifying Booth’s remains after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery beside his son, Charles Bishop Jr., also an actor.
Reverend Charles William Camp
(October 28th, 1845 - July 11th, 1906)
A Richmond Hill resident with a devotion to religion and country. His father and maternal grandfather were both Episcopalian rectors. Rev. Camp fought in the Civil War and was assigned to the First New Jersey Cavalry.
He served as Grand Masonic Chaplain of the New York Masonic Lodge and played an important role in the laying of the cornerstone for the massive stone pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Construction of the pedestal began in 1884, and a ceremony to lay the cornerstone was held on August 5, 1884. It had been a tradition in America to have the cornerstone of major public and private buildings and monuments consecrated with full Masonic rites ever since President Washington.
Patrick Henry "Harry" Hatton Cannon
(December 16th, 1837 - December 24th, 1922)
He was a New York City-born magician, author, and founding figure in American stage magic. Performing under the name Harry Hatton, he built a career as a conjurer and writer on magical technique.
He authored influential works, including Lessons in Magic and Magicians' Tricks (1910), one of the most enduring handbooks on magic. Cannon was a founding member of the Society of American Magicians, serving as vice president in 1902 and as president from 1912 to 1914.
He was a close associate of Harry Houdini, and both men are honored in the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame.
William Carter
(December, 1835 - December 27th, 1912)
New Orleans-born banjo virtuoso billed in his day as the “King of the Banjo Players.” He rose to prominence in the mid-19th century minstrel circuit, performing throughout the Northeast and gaining fame for his distinctive strumming style.
Carter performed with many of the era’s leading troupes, including Tony Pastor and Harrigan & Hart, and also contributed as a songwriter on several popular pieces. He successfully transitioned from minstrelsy into vaudeville as entertainment styles changed.
Despite earlier fame, Carter died in poverty in 1912. His burial at Maple Grove Cemetery was arranged through the generosity of Jerry Cohan, who also assisted Carter’s widow.
Depicting Samuel's son in the Jamaica School
Samuel B. Cisco
(1855 - April 29th, 1897)
A Jamaica, Queens businessman and civil rights advocate who played a key role in the fight to end school segregation in New York State. A successful scavenger and property owner, he lived in Jamaica with his wife, Elizabeth, and their children.
In the 1890s, Cisco challenged the local school system after his children were barred from attending a nearby public school because they were Black. He pursued the case through the courts, arguing that as a taxpaying citize,n his children had the right to attend their neighborhood school. After his death, his wife continued the fight, which ultimately led to the passage of a state law abolishing school segregation, signed in 1900 by Theodore Roosevelt.
Kate Holladay Claghorn
(February 12th, 1864 - March 22nd, 1938)
A sociologist, author, and public servant who played a significant role in social reform in New York. Raised in Richmond Hill, Queens, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College and earned a PhD from Yale University in 1896, a rare achievement for a woman of her time.
Claghorn worked for the U.S. Census Bureau and the New York City Tenement House Department, where she became the highest-paid woman in New York State civil service. She later taught at the New York School of Social Work and authored The Immigrants’ Day in Court, a major Carnegie-funded study on immigration and justice.
In 1909, she was among the founders of the NAACP, signing the original Call for the Lincoln Emancipation Conference.
Francis Hyman Criss
(April 26th, 1901 - November, 1973)
A modern American painter associated with the development of Precisionism. Born in London to a Jewish family of Russian descent, he immigrated to the United States as a child and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, earning a Cresson scholarship that allowed him to study in Europe.
Criss became known for stark, geometric portrayals of New York City’s industrial and urban life, using bold forms and restrained color. His work was exhibited at major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, and internationally in Paris.
During the 1930s and 1940s, he worked as a muralist and instructor with the Works Progress Administration, later teaching at the Brooklyn Museum and the School of Visual Arts
Dana Dawson Curry
(August 7th, 1974 - August 10th, 2010)
A singer and actress born in Jamaica, Queens, who began performing professionally as a child. She made her stage debut at age seven in the national tour of Annie and later appeared on Broadway in Rent, where she understudied and performed the role of Mimi.
Dawson also built a successful international music career, releasing charting singles and albums in France and the United Kingdom. Her debut album, Paris New York and Me, was certified gold in France, and she later recorded with EMI Records and toured across Europe.
She married jazz musician Jason Curry in 2007 and died in 2010 at the age of 36 after a battle with colon cancer.
Coleman Czito
(October 27, 1862 - December 6, 1919)
A Hungarian-born machinist and metalworker who immigrated to the United States in 1887. Trained as a tinsmith and mechanic, he co-owned a machine shop in Manhattan, where his skills brought him into collaboration with Nikola Tesla.
Czito worked as a fabricator and assistant on Tesla’s mechanical experiments, including the famous high-voltage research conducted in Colorado Springs in 1899. As the site mechanic, he helped operate the experimental equipment during Tesla’s large-scale electrical tests near Pikes Peak.
His son Julius later continued in the machine tool trade, and the Czito family remains closely linked to Tesla’s experimental legacy.
Ramiz Dani
(February 2, 1920 – July 21, 2003)
An Albanian American immigrant and longtime Kew Gardens business owner. Arriving in New York in 1956, he opened Dani’s House of Pizza in 1959, which became a neighborhood landmark known for its sweet sauce and crisp crust.
For more than four decades, Dani ran the pizzeria, serving generations of local families and becoming a familiar presence in the community. The shop occupied a former fish market once connected to a young neighborhood delivery driver who later became comedian Rodney Dangerfield.
Dani is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, where his funeral drew large crowds and was marked by a floral tribute shaped like a slice of pizza.
Mama Doe
(Unknown - December 25, 1985)
An unidentified homeless woman who lived in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal during the 1980s. Known simply as “Mama,” she was remembered for caring for other homeless individuals, especially young women, sharing food, clothing, and companionship.
She died on Christmas Day in 1985 after exposure to extreme cold. Her death drew citywide attention and public sympathy. She was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery through the generosity of a private donor, with a grave marker reading “Mama, Home at Last.”
Mama Doe’s story inspired the creation of the Doe Fund, which continues to help homeless individuals achieve stability and self-sufficiency.
Every year at Grand Central Station, a candlelight vigil is hosted to honor Mama Doe's memory.
Margaret Drysdale
(1868 – 1892)
Known on stage as Madge Yorke, was a Scottish American actress who grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens. She performed with touring theatrical companies and appeared in productions across the United States during the 1890s.
In February 1895, while performing in Philadelphia, Drysdale was murdered by fellow actor James B. Gentry, who became obsessively jealous of her. Gentry was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment after his death sentence was commuted. His later decline drew the support of friends in the theatrical world, including George M. Cohan.
Drysdale’s death shocked the theatrical community and ended a promising young career.
Melville Ellis
(November 1876 – April 4, 1917)
A musical performer and theatrical creative known for his work in early musical comedy, vaudeville, and silent film. Born in Arizona, he built his career in New York City, gaining popularity for his “pianologues,” comic monologues performed with piano accompaniment.
Ellis worked on Broadway and in early motion pictures, providing off stage piano music to shape actors’ performances, including during the filming of Carmen directed by Cecil B. DeMille. He was a versatile artist and worked as a composer, choreographer, costume designer, and scenic designer, contributing to productions such as the Ziegfeld Follies.
A headliner at the Palace Theatre and a collaborator of Al Jolson, Ellis died at age 39 from typhoid fever. His burial at Maple Grove Cemetery was arranged by his close friend Elsie de Wolfe.
Captain Charles Patrick Everett
(November 2, 1849– January 22, 1927)
A pioneering deep sea diver whose career spanned more than thirty years without a single accident. Originally trained as a cabinetmaker, he entered the profession by chance at age eighteen and quickly became one of the most skilled and respected divers of his time.
Everett led major underwater recovery efforts following two of the most tragic maritime disasters in American history: the explosion of the USS Maine in 1898 and the General Slocum disaster in New York City in 1904. His work helped recover victims and bring closure after events that claimed hundreds of lives.
Renowned for his professionalism and calm under extreme conditions, Everett regarded diving as safe work when done with care and discipline, and he remained committed to his demanding craft throughout his life.
Harrison La Tourette “Harry” Foster
(October 31, 1895 – March 15, 1932)
​
A Brooklyn born journalist, soldier, and travel writer known for a life of near constant adventure. He worked as a reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle and later traveled extensively as a freelance correspondent, laborer, and explorer across Latin America, Asia, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean.
A World War I veteran who served in France as a U.S. Army officer, Foster supported his travels through odd jobs while writing popular travel narratives. His books include The Adventures of a Tropical Tramp, A Beachcomber in the Orient, and Combing the Caribbees.
Foster’s writing captured the spirit of early 20th century wanderlust, blending journalism, memoir, and adventure drawn from firsthand experience.
Dr. Frank Gabrin
(June 16, 1959 – March 31, 2020)
An emergency medicine physician, U.S. Navy veteran, and author who devoted his life to caring for the sick and injured. Educated at the University of Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, he served for more than twenty-five years in emergency rooms across the country and was a flight physician in the Navy Medical Corps.
In March 2020, while treating patients in New York City during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Gabrin contracted the virus. He became the first emergency physician in the United States to die from COVID-19. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, where his headstone bears his chosen name, Pinchas, and the words: “Go care, make a difference, and change (y)our world.”
His legacy endures as a symbol of courage, service, and the heart of medicine.
Alfred Henry Grebe Sr.
(April 4, 1895 – October 24, 1935)
​
A Richmond Hill–born radio pioneer and manufacturer who played a key role in the early development of American broadcasting. He was a licensed commercial radio operator by age fifteen. He founded a radio manufacturing business behind his family home that grew into a major operation producing tens of thousands of radios annually.
Grebe developed equipment used by polar explorer Richard E. Byrd and operated some of the earliest radio stations in the country, including WAHG and WBOQ. In 1926, WAHG became WABC, one of the nation’s first commercial broadcasters.
He later sold the station to Columbia Broadcasting System, helping lay the groundwork for modern radio broadcasting.
James Edward “Jay” Hambidge
(January 13, 1867 – January 20, 1924)
A Canadian-born artist, writer, and theorist best known for developing the concept of Dynamic Symmetry, a system of proportion based on patterns found in nature and classical Greek art. Trained at the Art Students’ League in New York, he studied under William Merritt Chase and worked as an illustrator and writer for Life magazine and other publications.
In the early 20th century, Hambidge conducted extensive research in Greece and at Harvard Medical School, linking human anatomy, plant growth, and classical architecture to mathematical principles of harmony. His book The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry influenced artists, designers, and industries ranging from painting and illustration to jewelry and automobile design.
His ideas continued after his death through the establishment of the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, founded in his name and inspired by his belief in creativity rooted in nature.
Frank Alfred Giralomo Howson
(March 18, 1841 – June 29, 1928)
​
A British-born composer, conductor, and theatrical music director whose career spanned opera, musical theater, and drama in Australia, Europe, and the United States. Raised in a musical family, he conducted major operatic works in Australia by his late teens and later helped bring the Howson Opera Company to America.
After settling in New York, Howson served as musical conductor at leading theaters, including the Academy of Music. He frequently collaborated with his sister Emma Howson, the original Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, conducting her performances in both Europe and the United States.
Howson also composed incidental music for popular stage productions such as The Prisoner of Zenda, If I Were King, The Three Musketeers, and Hamlet, remaining active as a composer well into retirement.
Kyle Jean-Baptiste
(December 3, 1993 – August 28, 2015)
A New York City–born actor and singer who grew up in Brooklyn and trained at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and Baldwin Wallace University. Shortly after graduating from college, he was cast in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables.
In 2015, Jean-Baptiste made history when he debuted as Jean Valjean, becoming both the first Black actor and the youngest performer to portray the role on Broadway at age 21. He also appeared in regional theater productions, including Singin’ in the Rain and The Music Man.
Jean-Baptiste died in August 2015 in an accidental fall. His passing was widely mourned across the theater community, with memorials and tribute theater light dimming held in his honor in New York and beyond.
Dr. Ella Albertina Jenning
(September 23, 1848 – November 30, 1908)​
​
A physician, author, and social reformer dedicated to improving medical care for working women and children. Born in Canada to a Quaker family, she followed her sisters, leaders in women’s medicine and suffrage, into the medical profession and earned her degree in New York City in 1878.
In 1879, MacDonald founded the Twenty-Five Cent Provident Dispensary in Manhattan, a women-run clinic that provided affordable care to tens of thousands of patients. She later became the founder and editor of Humanity and Health magazine and was an early advocate for women’s equality in medicine, government, and public life.
She is remembered for a lifetime devoted to public service, reform, and compassion.
David Wemyss Jobson
(1810 – May 26, 1876)
A Scottish-born surgeon, dentist, author, and political figure. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he served as Surgeon Dentist to King William IV and later to Queen Victoria.
Jobson became publicly involved in the Lady Flora Hastings scandal, defending her innocence against royal accusations, a stance that cost him favor and clientele. He later turned to journalism and writing, publishing works on history and politics, and became involved with the French Provisional Government during the Revolution of 1848, receiving the honorary title of General.
Naturalized as a U.S. citizen, Jobson died in poverty in 1876. Saved from burial in Potter’s Field by fellow journalists, he became the first adult interred at Maple Grove Cemetery.
George “Count Johannes” Jones
(May 10, 1810 – December 30, 1879)​
​
A British born actor, self-styled nobleman, and legal advocate who became a colorful figure in 19th century New York. Best known for his performances as Hamlet, which he played more than one hundred times, he claimed to have performed the role before Emperor Napoleon and achieved brief fame on the international stage.
In New York, Count Johannes also practiced law without formal credentials, becoming known for unconventional courtroom tactics that relied heavily on literature and theatrical flair. He often represented widows and orphans without charge and was a frequent subject of newspaper coverage.
He died in poverty in 1879 and was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery. After his death, rumors of attempts to steal his brain for scientific study led cemetery staff to guard his grave. Years later, his wit and style were compared to those of Oscar Wilde, cementing his posthumous legend.
Julia “Pollard”
(Unknown – Jan 13, 1889)
​
The beloved dog of Marie Antoinette Nathalie Pollard, a lecturer, poet, and the widow of Civil War historian Edward Alfred Pollard. Though not human, Julia’s devotion earned her a singular place in memory.
On the night of January 30, 1885, Julia alerted Pollard to a fire in her residence, allowing her and others in the building to escape before the blaze spread. Julia’s frantic warning is credited with saving lives, and she was widely praised for her instinct and loyalty.
Julia later died after being deliberately poisoned, suffering for several days before her death. At a time when animal burials in cemeteries were discouraged, Pollard arranged for Julia to be quietly laid to rest at Maple Grove Cemetery in a secret burial.
Her grave bears a simple inscription: “To Julia, my only true friend.”
George Washington Johnson
(October 29, 1846 – January 23, 1914)​
​
An American singer and whistler who became the first major African American recording star in the United States. Born into slavery, he later moved to New York City in the 1870s, where he supported himself as a street performer and ferryboat entertainer, known for his powerful voice, strong lungs, and remarkable whistling ability.
With the advent of early sound recording technology developed by Thomas Edison, Johnson’s talents proved ideally suited to the crude wax-cylinder process. He was hired by the New York Phonograph Company and the New Jersey Phonograph Company to record vocal and whistling performances, including his widely popular Whistling Song and The Laughing Song. Because duplicate recordings could not yet be mass-produced, Johnson performed his songs repeatedly, earning twenty cents per take. Between 1890 and 1895, his recordings sold an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 copies, making him one of the best-selling artists of the era.
Despite working within a racially hostile industry marked by discriminatory and racist lyrics, Johnson did not conceal his identity. His photograph appeared prominently on sheet-music covers, making him the first African American performer to achieve national recognition in the recording industry. His success helped open the door for future generations of Black musicians, from the ragtime era through jazz and into modern popular music.
Advances in recording technology after 1905 ended the need for individual performances, but Johnson’s recordings remained in circulation until 1915. He died in 1914 and was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in an unmarked grave. A century later, his legacy was formally recognized with the placement of a grave marker honoring his groundbreaking contributions to American music history.
Rosina and Van Cliburn.
Rosina Bessie Lhévinne
(March 29, 1880 – November 9, 1976) ​
​
A Russian-born pianist and one of the most influential piano teachers of the twentieth century. Born in Kiev and trained at the Imperial Moscow Conservatory, she earned the Gold Medal for piano and later married fellow pianist Josef Lhévinne.
After emigrating to the United States, Rosina joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in 1924, where she became renowned for her discipline, patience, and insight. Affectionately known as “Madame” and the “Little Empress,” she shaped generations of musicians, including Van Cliburn and John Williams. She continued teaching into her nineties and remains remembered as a master pedagogue whose influence far exceeded the concert stage.
Josef Lhévinne
(December 13, 1874 – December 2, 1944)​
​
A Russian-born virtuoso pianist celebrated for his flawless technique and musical elegance. Born in Oryol to a family of Jewish musicians, he studied at the Imperial Moscow Conservatory, graduating with the Gold Medal in a class that included Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin.
Lhévinne achieved international recognition after winning the Anton Rubinstein Competition and later settled in the United States, where he combined concert performance with teaching at the Juilliard School. Though he made few recordings, they are regarded as definitive by pianists and scholars. He died suddenly in New York in 1944, leaving a legacy preserved in sound, scholarship, and the countless students shaped by his artistry.
Thomas Winn
(1812 – February 27, 1889)​
​
Known during his later years as Captain William Lloyd and affectionately called “Pop” Lloyd, lived a life of striking transformation. According to accounts shared after his death, he was born aboard a British brig at sea and spent much of his early life sailing the South Seas, living as a pirate and buccaneer during the final era of such men.
His years at sea were marked by lawlessness and violence, followed by decline brought on by hardship and alcoholism. By the early 1880s, Winn arrived in New York City impoverished, elderly, and alone. There he encountered missionary Sarah Sherwood, whose compassion and faith led to his conversion and rescue from destitution. He became an enthusiastic worker at the mission, earning deep affection and the nickname “Pop” Lloyd among its members.
Only after his death did the truth of his identity become known, when a minister revealed that “Captain William Lloyd” was in fact Thomas Winn. His passing caused an extraordinary outpouring of grief, as men and women from all walks of life filed past his rosewood casket—testimony to a man remembered less for the darkness of his beginnings than for the sincerity of his redemption.
Delia Loughlin
(March 30, 1868 – November 13, 1892)​
​
Known as the Bluebird of Mulberry Bend, was a young woman whose brief life traced a painful journey from abandonment to redemption. Born in Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, Delia lost her mother in early childhood and was raised in a convent, where she struggled with loneliness and instability.
As a teenager in the early 1890s, Delia drifted into the slums of Lower Manhattan, living among the poverty and violence of Mulberry Bend and the Five Points. Wearing blue dresses that earned her the nickname “the Bluebird,” she survived through crime and street life, enduring repeated arrests, illness, and hardship that quickly aged her youthful face.
Her life changed after an encounter with missionary Emma Mott Whittemore, who offered Delia compassion rather than judgment, symbolized by the gift of a single rose. That moment marked Delia’s conversion and renewal. She devoted her remaining strength to helping others caught in the same despair she had known, speaking in missions and prisons with uncommon sincerity and courage.
Delia died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four. She is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Theodore F. Archer
(February 1, 1837 – September 21, 1893)​
​
A businessman and civic leader who played a central role in the growth of Jamaica, Queens, during the late nineteenth century. Born in Monroe, Orange County, New York, he left home at thirteen to support himself, persevering despite limited education and resources.
After years of varied employment, Archer settled in Queens County, becoming a builder, real estate dealer, and one of Long Island’s most active land auctioneers. Though financially ruined by the Panic of 1873, he honored all obligations and rebuilt his fortune through determination and industry, contributing significantly to Jamaica’s commercial and residential development.
Respected for his integrity and judgment, Archer served as chief of the Jamaica Fire Department and was regarded as one of the village’s most public-spirited citizens. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, remembered for resilience, responsibility, and lasting civic contribution. After his passing, a street in Jamaica, Archer Avenue, was named in his honor.
Maria Reis Armbruster
(1828 – March 31, 1901)​
​
Maria was a German-born entrepreneur whose determination helped shape early Richmond Hill. Born in Bavaria in 1828, she emigrated to the United States during the Civil War era after the death of her first husband, Adam Lippert, with whom she had two daughters, Katie and Rosa.
After marrying Charles Armbruster, Maria settled in Richmond Hill in 1870 and opened the Richmond Hill Hotel on Jamaica Avenue. Following Charles’s death in 1887 and the earlier loss of her daughter Katie to consumption, Maria assumed full control of the business. She expanded the hotel’s grounds to include a picnic area and dance platform, sustaining it as a vital social center for the community. She is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Rosa Lippert Weiden
(1861 – July 12, 1910)​
​
Rosa grew up in Richmond Hill when it was still a rural village. The daughter of Maria Reis Armbruster, she helped manage the Richmond Hill Hotel from a young age, playing a central role in its daily operation and social life.
After marrying Ernest Weiden, Rosa co-developed the property into one of Queens County’s premier gathering places. In 1892, she helped establish Columbia Park Hall, a vast pavilion that hosted balls, political conventions, and public events. Rosa was also active in civic causes, organizing social functions to raise funds for the creation of Jamaica Hospital. She is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Ernest Weiden
(January 1864 – August 16, 1911)​
​
Ernest was a German-born businessman and community figure in Richmond Hill. After marrying Rosa Lippert, he became a partner in the operation and expansion of the Richmond Hill Hotel and its adjoining grounds.
In 1892, Ernest and Rosa opened Columbia Park Hall, named in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival, creating one of the largest event spaces in Queens County. That same year, Weiden joined the newly formed Columbia Hose Company, serving during the early and demanding years of volunteer firefighting. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery alongside his family.
LaVern Baker
(November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997)​
​
A pioneering rhythm and blues singer whose powerful voice and commanding presence helped carry R&B into the American mainstream. Born Delores LaVerne Baker in Chicago, she began performing in local clubs in the 1940s and first recorded in 1951, soon adopting the name LaVern Baker.
After signing with Atlantic Records in 1953, Baker achieved national success with a string of hit records, including Tweedlee Dee and the million-selling Jim Dandy, which earned a gold record. She placed nineteen songs on the pop charts during the 1950s and early 1960s and appeared widely on television and in film, helping define the sound and style of early rock and roll.
In the late 1960s, illness led Baker to step away from recording, and she spent more than two decades in the Philippines as entertainment director at a U.S. Marine Corps club. She returned to public performance in the late 1980s, appearing at Madison Square Garden, starring on Broadway in Black and Blue, and contributing to major film soundtracks.
Baker received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 1990 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming only the second female solo artist so honored. She is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Arturo Gil Alvarez
(September 1, 1928 – June 5, 2023)​
​
A Cuban American writer, journalist, broadcaster, and publisher who devoted his life to elevating Hispanic culture and letters in New York. Widely respected for his intellect and integrity, he was regarded as a guiding voice within the city’s Hispanic intellectual community.
Gil Alvarez worked in radio and print journalism before founding Editorial Nueva Etapa in 1967, through which he authored and edited more than eighty books. His publications spanned literature, poetry, music, history, and cultural studies and were distributed across the United States emphasizing education, dignity, and artistic excellence for immigrant communities.
Honored by cultural institutions in the United States and abroad, Arturo Gil Alvarez believed culture to be a public service and was something to be preserved, shared, and passed forward. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Charles Gamble Baird
(February 10, 1880 – April 28, 1918)​
​
A career soldier and communications expert whose service spanned two wars and helped shape modern military signaling. Born in Philadelphia, Baird became a specialist in railroad signal systems and was responsible for the installation and oversight of telegraph, telephone, and signal lines at Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
Baird first served his country during the Spanish-American War as a private in the 1st Pennsylvania Infantry. He later enlisted in the United States Army Signal Corps, serving overseas in the Philippines before returning to civilian life. At the outbreak of World War I, he reenlisted and organized the 413th Telegraph Battalion, the first Signal Corps unit ordered overseas, composed largely of skilled Pennsylvania Railroad employees.
Promoted to Major, Baird died at the age of thirty-eight while in service in Tours, France. He lived in Richmond Hill, Queens, with his wife Teresa and their son, Charles Jr. His name is inscribed on local World War I memorials, and he is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, remembered for technical mastery, leadership, and steadfast devotion to duty.
Teresa Menyhart Baird
(1874 – 1949)​
​
The devoted wife of Charles Gamble Baird and the mother of their only son, Charles Jr. Born in Hungary, she met Charles while traveling at sea, and the two married in 1900 before settling in Richmond Hill, Queens, where they built a close and loving family life.
During World War I, Teresa supported her husband’s return to military service, knowing the depth of his sense of duty. When Major Baird died overseas in France in 1918 at the age of thirty-eight, Teresa bore the loss with quiet strength, bringing his remains home to New York and dedicating herself to raising their son in his father’s image and values.
Charles’s final written words praised Teresa’s courage, honor, and unwavering love. Sentiments that defined her life as much as her grief did. Teresa Menyhart Baird was later laid to rest beside her husband at Maple Grove Cemetery.
John Edward Trist Bailey
(July 1870 – July 19, 1948)​
​
An English-born real estate developer best remembered as the founder of Bayswater, Queens. Born in Bayswater, London, he emigrated to the United States in 1871 and established himself as an auctioneer, surveyor, and real estate agent.
In 1878, Bailey acquired extensive land along Jamaica Bay and laid out the seaside community of Bayswater, naming it for his birthplace. The neighborhood became a fashionable enclave, and streets including Bailey Court and Trist Place were named in his honor. His career was marked by ambition and risk, culminating in the construction of the Bayswater Hotel, a venture that ultimately contributed to his financial decline.
Bailey was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, beneath one of the cemetery’s most unusual monuments.
Bela Gustav Benci
(July 18, 1923 – June 8, 1942)​
​
A New York musician. Bela grew up in a household shaped by music, culture, and immigration.
He was the son of Charles Lucas Benci, a Hungarian-born violinist and orchestra leader whose ensembles performed widely and recorded for RCA Victor, and Mary Theresa Benci, born in Hungary. Bela was often photographed at the drums, reflecting the musical tradition that surrounded him from childhood.
Bela died at the age of eighteen in Manhattan in 1942. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Elizabeth Milne Hodge Japp
(April 8, 1874 – April 28, 1911)​
​
A Scottish-born wife and mother. In 1899, she married civil engineer Henry Japp, and together they had four children.
When Henry was appointed managing engineer for the construction of the East River Tunnels that linked Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan to Queens. The family moved from England to Richmond Hill. Elizabeth witnessed firsthand the creation of the first rail tunnels beneath the East River, a project celebrated internationally and completed in 1910, transforming travel between Manhattan and Long Island.
Only a year later, Elizabeth died of pneumonia at the age of thirty-seven, leaving behind four young children. She was laid to rest at Maple Grove Cemetery, where her husband erected a Celtic-inspired monument in her memory, echoing her Scottish roots.
Max Mayrbaurl
(September 7, 1904 – December 6, 1958)​
​
An Austrian-born club steward and longtime administrative figure of the Arion Singing Society in Brooklyn, New York. He served as club steward for twenty two years, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization and its facilities.
Founded in the 1860s, the Arion Singing Society was a nonpolitical, nonsectarian choral organization whose only requirement for membership was a love of song and music. During Mayrbaurl’s tenure, the society maintained a distinguished public profile, performing at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1902 in honor of Prince Henry of Prussia and later at the White House before Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge.
During World War II, the Arion Singing Society was denounced by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime as traitors to Germany, a charge its members regarded as affirmation of their commitment to democracy. Mayrbaurl is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Bonnie Magin
(1880 – September 1, 1964)​
​
A Chicago-born American actress, singer, and dancer who rose to prominence on the Broadway stage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Discovered at age sixteen, she quickly gained popularity for her grace and stage presence and became widely featured in newspapers, magazines, postcards, and promotional materials.
Magin performed with the prominent theatrical producers Weber & Fields and appeared in major stage productions, including Mr. Bluebeard. In December 1903, she survived the catastrophic Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago, the deadliest theater fire in United States history, which claimed more than six hundred lives.
Her career continued for several years following the tragedy. In later life, she withdrew from public performance and lived largely out of the spotlight. Magin died on September 1, 1964, and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, where she is interred with her father.
Isaac Oscar Lund
(September 29, 1854 – December 26, 1920)​
​
A Finnish-born carpenter whose working life reflected the global reach of early twentieth century engineering. Born in Finland, he married Elda in 1884 and immigrated to the United States the following year, settling in Woodhaven, Queens, where they raised their family.
In 1906, Lund worked as a carpenter on the construction of the Panama Canal, one of the most ambitious engineering projects of the modern era. Employed by the Engineering Department of Architecture and Building, he earned sixty five cents an hour, a high wage for the period. The canal, strongly supported by Theodore Roosevelt, opened in 1914 and permanently transformed global maritime trade. Lund is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Piotr Lucjan Luszczewski
(January 29, 1960 – July 23, 2013)​
​
Known as Peter, was a Polish-born flight attendant who worked for Northwest Airlines. Born in Szczecin, Poland, he later settled in the United States and built a career in international commercial aviation.
On September 11, 2001, Luszczewski was a crew member on Flight 61, traveling from New York to Europe, when United States airspace was closed following the terrorist attacks. His aircraft was diverted to Gander in Canada, where passengers and crew were cared for by local residents for several days in an extraordinary display of community generosity. The experience became part of the historical record of the global aviation shutdown and was later dramatized in the Broadway musical Come from Away. Luszczewski is buried at Maple Grove.
Albon Platt Man II
(November 14, 1845 – April 24, 1920)​
​
A New York born real estate developer and civic figure closely associated with the early development of Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens in Queens. He was the son of Albon Platt Man, founder of Richmond Hill, and the brother of Alrick Hubbell Man, founder of Kew Gardens.
Following his father’s acquisition of farmland along what is now Metropolitan Avenue in the late 1860s, Man played an active role in shaping the community’s recreational and residential landscape. In 1895, he and his brother Arthur helped establish the Richmond Hill Golf Links on the wooded land north of Metropolitan Avenue, which had long served as open green space for residents.
After the closure of the golf course in 1908, the land was developed into the community of Kew Gardens, marking the final phase of the Man family’s lasting influence on central Queens development.
Charles Matthews Manly
(1876 – October 15, 1927)​
​
A Virginia-born engineer and aviation pioneer best known for his work with Samuel P. Langley, director of the Smithsonian Institution. Trained as an engineer, Manly played a central role in Langley’s late nineteenth century experiments in powered flight.
In 1901, Langley successfully flew the first unmanned gasoline-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. Manly subsequently designed the lightweight Manly–Balzer radial engine, one of the most advanced aircraft engines of its time, and served as test pilot for Langley’s full-scale aircraft, the Great Aerodrome.
On October 7 and December 8, 1903, Manly survived two highly publicized launch failures over the Potomac River when the Aerodrome collapsed immediately after release, events that became known as “Langley’s Folly.” Langley abandoned further attempts soon afterward. Nine days later, the Wright Brothers achieved the first successful powered flight at Kitty Hawk.
Manly later lived in Queens, New York, where he died and buried in Maple Grove Cemetery. His contributions remain significant in the early engineering history of aviation.
Don Marquis
(July 29, 1878–December 29, 1937)​
​
Born Donald Robert Perry Marquis in Walnut, Illinois, was a prominent American newspaper columnist, playwright, poet, and humorist of the early twentieth century. He is best known for the enduring literary creations Archy and Mehitabel, a series of satirical pieces narrated by a cockroach and an alley cat, which have remained continuously in print since their first publication.
Marquis moved to New York in 1909 and joined The Evening Sun in 1912, where he wrote the widely read daily column The Sun Dial. By the 1920s, he was among the most quoted writers in Manhattan and a central figure of the Algonquin Round Table, whose members shaped American literary wit and style.
He authored five plays, numerous books, and hundreds of poems and short stories. Marquis died in 1937 at the age of fifty nine and is remembered as one of New York’s defining literary voices of his era.
Marinos Vourderis
(1917 – July 2, 2013)​
​
A Greek-born entrepreneur who emigrated to the United States in the 1930s and built one of New York’s best-known frozen dessert businesses. Arriving in New York City with little money and no formal higher education, he began his career in construction before entering the food industry.
Vourderis founded the Olympic Ice Cream Company and created Marino’s Italian Ices using a traditional recipe. In 1964, his product was introduced at the New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, where it gained widespread popularity. Production later expanded to a factory in Richmond Hill, Queens, and his Italian ices became a staple of supermarkets, restaurants, and street vendors across the country.
Vourderis died in 2013 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Alfio “Freddie” Manninici
(1917 – February 23, 1921)​
​
A Sicilian-born child who immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister in January 1921. The family arrived aboard the U.S.S. Sophia from Palermo, Sicily, and was detained at Ellis Island under the designation “Likely Public Charge.”
While held at Ellis Island, Alfio became ill and was admitted to the immigrant hospital’s contagious disease ward. He died of scarlet fever on February 23, 1921, at the age of three or four. His mother and sister, still detained, were unable to attend his burial and were not informed of his grave’s location.
Decades later, following extensive research by family members, Alfio’s burial was identified at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Francis Lincoln Marsh
(1866 – June 27, 1935)​
A Pennsylvania-born railroad employee whose fifty two–year career reflected the central role of rail transportation in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. Born in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, he began working at age seventeen as a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the nation’s largest rail systems.
Marsh was on duty during two major national disasters. In March 1888, he remained at his post during the Great Blizzard of 1888, becoming marooned for forty eight hours while assisting with stalled rail operations. The following year, while stationed near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he transmitted flood warnings in the hours before the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, narrowly surviving the Johnstown Flood of 1889.
He continued his railroad career for decades, later serving as a traffic agent overseeing a major produce terminal at New York City’s West Side piers. Marsh is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Victoria Earle Smith Matthews
(May 27, 1861 – March 10, 1907)​
​
A journalist, author, lecturer, and social reformer whose work focused on the advancement and welfare of African American women and youth. Born enslaved on a plantation in Georgia at the start of the Civil War her complexion was so light she passed as white. She came to New York City in 1873, where she pursued education and later married William Matthews.
Writing under the name Victoria Earle, she worked as a reporter for major newspapers including the New York Times, New York Herald, and Brooklyn Eagle. In 1893, she published the short story Aunt Lindy and became a prominent voice on Black women’s issues, lecturing nationally and speaking at the World's Columbian Exposition. She also helped found the National Federation of Afro-American Women.
After the death of her son in 1897, Matthews devoted herself to social work, founding the White Rose Industrial Association, which provided shelter, education, and employment training for young Black women and children. She died in Manhattan in 1907 and buried in Maple Grove Cemetery.
James McCarroll
(August 3, 1814 – April 10, 1892)
​
An Irish-born poet, journalist, editor, musician, and cultural figure active in Irish, Canadian, and American literary circles during the nineteenth century. Raised in Ireland, where he received an education in music and the classics, he emigrated with his family to Upper Canada in 1831 and settled in Peterborough.
McCarroll worked in a wide range of professions, including shoemaker, schoolteacher, music instructor, newspaper editor, and customs officer, holding posts in Peterborough, Cobourg, Port Credit, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and later New York City, where he moved in 1871. Alongside his civil service career, he was a prolific writer, flutist, and composer.
He authored four books, including Ridgeway (1868), an historical romance on the Fenian invasion of Canada, and Madeline and Other Poems (1889), noted for its Irish themes. McCarroll claimed to have written for more newspapers and magazines than any other man in North America, a statement supported by extensive documentation of his journalistic output. He died in New York City and buried in Maple Grove Cemetery.
Harry Roland McGowan
(July 25, 1878 – November 5, 1925)​
​
An Australian-born stage and film actor, elocutionist, and theatrical producer active in the United States during the early twentieth century. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he studied elocution and music at the Elder Conservatorium of the University of Adelaide and became a noted amateur elocutionist before pursuing a professional stage career.
After working in New Zealand and England, McGowan arrived in the United States in 1907 and settled in New York City. Performing under the names Roland McGowan and Roland Rushton, he appeared on Broadway, toured nationally, and worked closely with leading theatrical figures including David Belasco, also serving as a producer at the Belasco Theatre. In the early 1920s, he transitioned into motion pictures, appearing in several silent films.
McGowan lived for many years at the Friars Club in Manhattan. He died of pneumonia in 1925 shortly before rehearsals were to begin for a new stage production and buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Demetrio “Danny” Meduri
(January 26, 1890 – June 12, 1976)​
​
An Italian-born tenor whose long performing career spanned opera, musical theater, and touring productions across the United States. Born in Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1906 and became known for his powerful singing voice and wide-ranging repertoire.
Meduri performed with numerous touring companies during the 1920s and 1930s, appearing in productions such as The Mikado, The Student Prince, No, No, Nanette, and The Gay Divorce. His work connected him to composers and performers of the era, and he counted the famed tenor Enrico Caruso among his personal acquaintances.
After retiring from the stage, Meduri lived for many years in Richmond Hill, Queens, where he became a familiar and well-known figure in the neighborhood. He died in 1976 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, where his grave was later marked through the efforts of friends and community members.
Adolph Merkt Sr.
(June 17, 1847 – July 26, 1916)​
​
A German-born craftsman, lighting manufacturer, and early motion picture exhibitor who lived and worked in Brooklyn for more than four decades. Born in Spaichingen, Germany, he immigrated to the United States in 1872 and became a naturalized citizen in 1879.
Merkt began his career as a wood turner before establishing a business manufacturing calcium, or lime, lights, widely used as theatrical spotlights in the nineteenth century and the source of the expression “in the limelight.” Fascinated by emerging visual technology, he became an early stereopticon exhibitor and was among the first customers of Thomas A. Edison, presenting Edison’s Kinetograph and Kinetoscope to public audiences.
He was also an active member of the Schwaebischer Saengerbund, helping organize and manage large annual German cultural festivals that combined music, theater, and spectacle. Merkt died in 1916 at the age of sixty-nine.
Theresa Merritt
(September 24, 1922 – June 12, 1998)​
​
An American singer and actress whose career spanned more than fifty years across Broadway, film, television, and concert performance. Born in Emporia, Virginia, she studied opera at the Juilliard School and attended Temple University and New York University.
She made her professional stage debut in 1943 when Billy Rose cast her in his production of Carmen Jones. Merritt went on to perform in numerous Broadway productions, including Golden Boy, Show Boat, and The Wiz, and earned a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Her film appearances included All That Jazz, The Wiz, and Billy Madison.
Television audiences best knew her as the star of the ABC sitcom That’s My Mama, for which she received widespread acclaim. Merritt died in 1998 at the age of seventy five and is remembered as a commanding and versatile performer of the American stage and screen.
Ludolf Ferdinand Portong
(June 8, 1892 – September 16, 1920)​
​
Born in New York. He was a bank teller and United States Army veteran whose life was cut short by one of the earliest acts of domestic terrorism in American history. Born in Richmond Hill, Queens, to German immigrant parents, he graduated from Richmond Hill High School and worked as a teller for National City Bank.
During World War I, Portong enlisted in the U.S. Army and served overseas in France with Troop E, 1st New York Cavalry from 1918 to 1919. He was wounded by shrapnel, honorably discharged, and returned to his banking career on Wall Street. In April 1920, he married Edna Purtel, and the couple was expecting their first child.
On September 16, 1920, Portong was killed instantly while leaving work during the Wall Street Bombing, when a horse-drawn wagon loaded with explosives detonated near the J. P. Morgan Building. He was twenty eight years old and buried in the family plot at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Thomas A. Vafides
(July 24, 1915 – May 4, 2009)​
A New York born attorney, World War II veteran, and respected leader within New York City’s Greek American community. Born in Manhattan, he earned his law degree from St. John’s University in 1937 and practiced law in New York City for 56 years, maintaining offices in Manhattan.
Vafides devoted much of his career to serving and assisting Greek immigrants, sponsoring newcomers and guiding families through legal and civic life.
During World War II, he served in the United States Army, training at Officers Candidate School and later serving in Army communications in the Pacific Theater, including the Philippines.
After retiring, he spent his later years with family, ultimately relocating to Ohio. Upon his death in 2009 at the age of 93, he was returned to New York and interred at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, where his life of service, resilience, and cultural pride is enduringly remembered.
Charles Joseph Otis
(October 4, 1895 – December 18, 1963)​
​
A Brooklyn-born World War I veteran and a member of the Otis family closely associated with the development of the modern elevator industry. He was a great-grandnephew of Elisha Otis, whose invention of the safety elevator helped make high-rise construction possible.
Otis grew up in Brooklyn within a family deeply involved in elevator innovation and regulation. His great-grandfather traveled internationally establishing business contracts for the Otis Elevator Company, while his father, Charles W. Otis, organized New York City’s first group of municipal elevator inspectors.
During World War I, Otis served overseas as a U.S. Army bugler, a critical and dangerous communications role on the battlefield. He survived the war and returned to civilian life, carrying forward both a legacy of service and industrial heritage.
He died in DeLand, Florida, in 1963 at the age of 68 and brought to Maple Grove Cemetery.
Catherine Marble “Kate” Matson Post
(March 10, 1855 – May 6, 1936)​
A prominent Richmond Hill civic figure, historian, and social leader whose work helped preserve the early history of the community. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Matson, third rector of the Church of the Resurrection, and moved to Richmond Hill with her family in 1877, when the neighborhood was still a small village.
On June 3, 1885, she married James Post in the first wedding ever held inside the Church of the Resurrection, an event that caused widespread local excitement and marked a shift from traditional home weddings to church ceremonies in Richmond Hill.
Deeply active in community life, Post was a member of the Ladies’ Twentieth Century Club, founded in 1898 to promote civic improvement. In 1905, she authored the first published history of Richmond Hill, a carefully researched work illustrated with photographs by her sister, artist Frances Matson. The book remains a foundational source for modern historians and an enduring record of Richmond Hill’s early character.
Rev. William Agur Matson
(April 14, 1819 – March 18, 1904)​
​
A prominent Episcopal clergyman, editor, and church administrator whose career spanned more than half a century and left a lasting imprint on religious life in New York State.
Born in Port Byron, New York, Matson was educated at what is now Hobart College and was ordained to the Episcopal ministry in 1846. He served parishes in Waterville, Utica, Geneva, Jersey City, Roslyn, and elsewhere before becoming the third rector of the Church of the Resurrection in Richmond Hill in 1877, a position he held for nine years. During his tenure, Richmond Hill was still a small and developing community, and Matson became a central figure in its clerical and social life.
Beyond the pulpit, Matson held several influential posts within the Episcopal Church. He served as secretary of the Diocese of Western New York, recording secretary of the General Board of Missions, and later as secretary of the Church Society for the Promotion of Christianity Among the Jews. He was also editor of the Gospel Messenger in Utica and later the Church Journal of New York, making him one of the most widely read Episcopal editors of his era.
In his later years, Matson lived in Richmond Hill, where he was regarded as one of the oldest ministers connected with the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. He died in 1904 at the age of 84 and buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Clarence Albert Profit
(March 26, 1910 – October 22, 1944)
​
A New York City–born jazz pianist and composer whose refined swing style placed him among the most respected musicians of his generation. Born in Manhattan to Herman and Marie Otto Profit, immigrants from the British West Indies, he grew up in a musical household and began studying piano at the age of three.
Profit emerged as a prodigious talent, leading a ten-piece band while still a teenager and later performing with groups such as the Washboard Serenaders. After spending several years in the Caribbean and Bermuda, where he led his own bands, he returned to New York in the mid-1930s and formed the Clarence Profit Trio. The trio performed regularly at major venues including the Village Vanguard, Café Society, and the 92nd Street YMHA.
Known for his elegant touch, harmonic subtlety, and powerful stride-influenced swing, Profit was widely admired by his peers and compared favorably to the era’s leading pianists. He co-composed the jazz standard Lullaby in Rhythm with Edgar Sampson and made a small but influential body of recordings between 1939 and 1940.
Clarence Albert Profit died in New York City in 1944 at the age of 34. Though his career was cut short, his work helped shape the early piano-trio format and influenced the development of modern jazz. Today, he is remembered as a brilliant but underrecognized figure whose music continues to reward rediscovery.
Roberta Josephine Baughman Pryor
(June 7, 1924 – November 13, 2001)​
​
A distinguished New York literary agent whose career helped shape late twentieth-century American publishing. Born in California and educated at Pomona College, she settled in Manhattan in her mid-twenties and remained at the heart of the city’s literary life for decades.
Pryor became an agent at International Creative Management in 1963, where she worked for more than twenty years, serving as a trusted matchmaker between authors and editors. Her client list included major writers such as David Halberstam, Paul Fussell, Roger Caras, Cecelia Holland, and P. D. James. Among her youngest clients was Peter Benchley, whom she represented from his teenage years.
In 1974, Pryor secured a publishing contract for Benchley’s novel Jaws, guiding the book through multiple revisions and shepherding it to publication. The novel went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and inspired a record-setting film adaptation that transformed popular culture.
Known for her wit, discernment, and intolerance for anything “boring,” Roberta Pryor thrived on ideas, talent, and momentum. She died in Richmond Hill, Queens, in 2001 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Irving Rapper
(January 16, 1898 – December 20, 1999)​
​
A British-born Hollywood film director and dialogue coach whose career spanned the Golden Age of American cinema. Born in London, he immigrated to New York as a child and studied at New York University, where his interests shifted from law to theater.
Rapper found early success on Broadway as an actor, stage manager, and director before being recruited by Warner Bros. Studios in the 1930s. With the arrival of sound film, he became one of Hollywood’s leading dialogue directors, working closely with actors on performance and interpretation. He collaborated with many of the era’s greatest stars, including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Muni, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and John Garfield.
He made his directorial debut in 1941 and achieved lasting acclaim with Now, Voyager (1942), starring Bette Davis, one of the most celebrated romantic dramas in film history. Rapper went on to direct numerous notable films, including The Corn Is Green, The Adventures of Mark Twain, Rhapsody in Blue, The Glass Menagerie, and Marjorie Morningstar, earning multiple Academy Award nominations along the way.
Irving Rapper continued working in film until the late 1970s and lived to the age of 101. He died in California in 1999, remembered as a craftsman of dialogue, emotion, and enduring cinematic moments. He is perhaps best summed up by one of the most famous line ih his movie Now, Voyager: “Let’s not ask for the moon. We have the stars.”
Jimmy Rushing
(August 26, 1901 – June 9, 1972)​
​
Known as “Mr. Five-by-Five,” was a renowned jazz and blues singer whose powerful voice became a defining sound of the Swing Era. Born in Oklahoma City into a musical family, he learned violin and piano in his youth and began performing professionally at an early age.
Rushing rose to national prominence as the featured vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra, joining the band in the mid-1930s and remaining its lead singer for more than fifteen years. Influenced by blues greats such as Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, he was celebrated for both soulful ballads and driving blues and was the only blues singer to tour full-time with a major swing band.
After leaving Basie in 1950, Rushing led his own groups, recorded extensively, appeared on television, and reunited with Basie at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957. Among his best-known recordings are “Good Morning Blues,” “Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today,” and “Harvard Blues.”
Jimmy Rushing died in New York in 1972 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens. In 1994, his legacy was honored when the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative jazz and blues stamp bearing his likeness.
Theodore Henry Shackelford
(May 29, 1887 – February 5, 1923)
​
A Canadian born poet, violinist, and laborer whose brief life left a lasting literary imprint in early twentieth-century New York. Born in Ontario, Canada, he immigrated to the United States at age eighteen and later settled in New York City.
Shackelford supported himself as a skilled lathe operator and was also employed at the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, one of the nation’s earliest institutions dedicated to the care of Black children. Beyond his manual work, he was a gifted musician, serving as a featured violinist at events for Union Baptist Church.
He gained local recognition as a poet and public reader, earning praise from critics who compared him to Paul Laurence Dunbar. In 1916, he published his first poetry collection, Mammy’s Cracklin’ Bread, a warmly received volume of dialect and folk-inspired verse. His second book, My Country and Other Poems (1918), reflected a more serious tone shaped by the First World War and was noted for its emotional depth and literary promise.
Shackelford died of broncho-pneumonia in 1923 at the age of 35 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Anthony “Tony” Sbarbaro Sr.
(June 27, 1897 – October 30, 1969)​
​
A pioneering jazz drummer best known as a founding member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the group credited with bringing jazz to national prominence through early commercial recordings.
Born in New Orleans, Sbarbaro grew up in the city where jazz first took root. By 1917 he had moved to New York City, where the Original Dixieland Jazz Band achieved international fame through recordings and performances at leading venues such as Reisenweber’s. During this period, the band popularized early jazz standards including “Tiger Rag,” “Clarinet Marmalade,” and “Skeleton Jangle.”
After the group disbanded in 1925, Sbarbaro continued performing for decades with prominent jazz musicians including Wild Bill Davison, Phil Napoleon, and Pee Wee Russell. He remained active in music until retiring in the late 1950s.
Sbarbaro later resided in Queens, New York, where he lived with his family and worked steadily as a professional musician. He died in 1969 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens.
Frederick Bedřich Serger
(August 25, 1889 – November 3, 1965)​
​
An internationally recognized Modernist painter known for his richly colored still life and interior scenes. Born in what is now the Czech Republic, he studied art in Munich, Paris, and Vienna, developing a non-abstract modern style that earned him critical acclaim and prize recognition.
Serger exhibited widely, with major one-man shows beginning in Paris in 1936 and continuing through New York in 1963. Forced to flee Europe during World War II, he and his wife endured exile in England, Panama, Mexico, and Central America before settling in New York City in 1941. Reinvigorated by new surroundings, he resumed painting prolifically.
His works entered museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Frederick Serger died in New York in 1965 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, where his modern sensibility is reflected even in the design of his memorial.
Serger's Painting
Helen Spitzer Serger
(June 27, 1897 – October 30, 1969)​
​
A prominent art dealer, collector, and champion of early twentieth-century European modernism. Born in Salesia, then part of Eastern Europe, she married painter Frederick Serger in 1927 and became his lifelong partner in both art and survival through wartime displacement.
After resettling in New York City during World War II, Helen emerged as a respected modern art dealer with a private gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She specialized in European avant-garde artists, exhibiting works by Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, and was among the earliest dealers to actively promote women modernist painters.
A discerning collector, Helen helped place important works in major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is also remembered for advocating modern design at Maple Grove Cemetery, ensuring that the couple’s memorial reflected artistic integrity and restraint. She died in 1989, leaving a legacy defined by vision, courage, and an unyielding belief in beauty.