Long Branch-Born Dorothy Parker Finally Gets Her Headstone

LONG BRANCH, NJ – One of Long Branch’s most famous residents finally has a headstone for her resting place in The Bronx.

Dorothy Parker, writer, poet, and member of the famed Algonquin Round Table, was born in the West End section of Long Branch on Aug. 22 and died in 1967 at the age of 67.

A proponent of the civil rights movement, Parker left her estate to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parker’s estate then was under the watchful eye of the NAACP after King’s assassination.

From 1988 to August of last year, Parker’s remains were buried in a memorial garden at the NAACP’s national headquarters in Baltimore.

Upon the NAACP’s moving to a new headquarters, they reached out to Kevin Fitzpatrick, president of the Dorothy Parker Society, who facilitated the transfer of Parker’s ashes from Baltimore to Woodlawn Cemetary in The Bronx, where her family’s plot is.

"They (the NAACP) reached out to me, and I stayed in touch with them, and over the next few years, we came up with a plan,” Fitzpatrick said.

From her interment at Woodlawn last August until the unveiling of her new headstone last Wednesday, a simple marker denoted her grave, and now there’s a headstone with a section from one of her poems, “Epitaph For A Darling Lady,” which was chosen by her surviving family members.

"Leave for her a red young rose,
Go your way, and save your pity;
She is happy, for she knows
That her dust is very pretty."

According to Fitzpatrick, being buried with her family will help people remember Parker’s legacy more.

“Dorothy Parker is now in a famous cemetery,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a place where fans can go visit and pay their respects."