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President Donald J. Trump and his family attended the funeral of Ivana Trump in New York on Wednesday at St. Vincent’s Ferrer,a Roman Catholic Church, for a private ceremony as law enforcement closed off nearby streets so family friends and the community could pay their respects.
The church is located on the upper east side of Manhattan; the ceremony was to celebrate the life of Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump and the mother of his first three children, who died last week, unexpectedly, at 73 years of age.
The Trump Organization handled the funeral arrangements. The Secret Service stood by.
One reporter, who attended the service, told Newsmax about the details she witnessed:
“I was outside the church today when the motorcade arrived, and the children stepped outside the cars and then stood outside the church as the pallbearers lifted Ivana’s casket from the hearse and moved her into the church.
Then President Trump arrived not long after with his wife, Melania, and their son Barron. They were escorted by a separate security detail and came in through the side door. Many members of the community also gathered out there to pay their respects outside the church.”
The New York Times reported on the details of the funeral service:
“Most of the speeches about Ms. Trump, who died last week at 73 inside her apartment in New York, focused on her indefatigable drive, shaped by growing up in Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain. Those eulogizing her also talked about the friendship that Ms. Trump and her ex-husband had managed to forge, despite the bitter tabloid divorce. (Ms. Trump was married briefly then widowed before her marriage to Mr. Trump, and the two husbands who followed him died before her.)
Her children offered a loving glimpse at her forceful parenting style.
In a speech, her son Eric, 38, described his mother as the embodiment of the American dream, something like a mix of Joan Rivers and Claudia Schiffer, he said.
“She had brains, she had beauty, and she had grit,” he said, going on to assert that she had won the “hearts and minds of every single person in the U.S. on the Home Shopping Network and QVC.”
He added: “She still holds every single sales record. People adored Ivana.”
As a parent, he said, she “ruled with an iron fist and a heart of gold.”
Ivana had lived in the area for around 20 years and was a known resident of the Upper East Side.
“I spoke to a neighbor of Ivana’s who said that she was always friendly to those around her and was a lovely neighbor to everybody in the area,” one reporter told Newsmax.
Ivana’s death was ruled accidental when she fell down her staircase at home and was found unconscious and unresponsive last week by members of Emergency Services. The official cause of death said she had suffered blunt force trauma to the Torso.
It was a sorrowful day, not only for the family but also for the many people who were gathered around the church. The memorial had roughly 100 mourners, reported the New York Post. The pictures shared by the publication show the whole of the Trump family dressed formally.
Yet there was something to smile about as well. Ivana was buried in a rose gold casket and given the utmost respect by her ex-husband and the entire Trump family.
The burial spot also holds special significance for the family, as reported by The Daily Mail.
“Fairway to heaven! Ivana Trump’s final resting place is revealed to 10-person plot on FIRST HOLE of Donald’s Bedminster golf course where friends and family gathered after NYC church service,” the outlet reported.
According to the report, Ivana Trump was buried along a grassy area at the golf club.
“Her rose gold casket was lowered into the ground not too far from the main club house in a ‘private grassy area with a very discreet piece of granite engraved with her name” The Daily Mail disclosed.
“Ivana’s three children are said to have spoken at the burial ceremony after telling mourners at the funeral what a trailblazer their mother was, according to the outlets inside sources.
“Former President Donald Trump also told the mourners around the burial site just what an incredible woman she was and what a strong woman,” a source close to the family told the outlet.
Trump reportedly told the mourners around the burial site that Ivana always ‘commanded a room.’
Ivana was remembered as someone who lived the American Dream after coming to the United States from Czechoslovakia.
The Daily Mail recalled the history of Donald Trump’s burial plot plans that began in 2007, “when he first announced he wanted to build a family mausoleum for himself and his family members.
He told Page Six at the time: ‘This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.’
Source: The Republic Brief