The devastated children of the Putnam County man killed in Sunday’s train derailment wept Friday as they said goodbye to their father at a funeral so packed that some mourners couldn’t even get inside.
A striking photo shows Jim Lovell’s three grief-stricken sons Finn, 17, Hudson, 11, and Jack, 15, in the doorway of Our Lady of Loretto Church in Cold Spring.
The 58-year-old father of four was a production consultant heading into New York City Sunday to prepare for the annual Rockefeller Center tree lighting when tragedy struck.
His widow, Nancy Montgomery, graciously thanked the mourners who couldn’t fit inside the crowded church in Putnam County, and told them her husband loved them.
She shared a pew with their sons, as well as his daughter from a previous marriage. At times, she rested her head on one son’s shoulder.
“Our separation is his reunion,” said the Rev. Brian McSweeney. “He is freed from all the things we worry about.”
He said that the derailment “was not the will of God. It is the result of our imperfection.”
The congregation joined in singing The Beatles’ “Let It Be” at the end of the service.
“Words can’t express how much my Father meant to me,” Lovell’s son Finn wrote initially on Instagram after the derailment. “I love you and I miss you. I can’t believe that you’re gone. This feels like an awful nightmare I can’t wake up from.”
A funeral was also held Friday for train victim Donna Smith, 54, a paralegal from Newburgh.
Kisook Ahn, 35, will be laid to rest Saturday in Queens. She was killed heading home from her job as a nurse in Ossining.