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Site of the Funeral Befits an Area Legend

Like the football team with which he was so closely identified, the stately church where Jack Kent Cooke's funeral will take place this week is steeped in history.

Trinity Episcopal, in the heart of tiny Upperville 50 miles west of Washington, welcomes a genteel congregation from Virginia's Hunt Country each Sunday to its sandstone sanctuary.

The existing structure, surrounded by trees and nestled among acres of rolling verdant farmland, is actually the third church to sit on the site. The first was built in 1842, the second in 1895.

As the area prospered, attracting some of the biggest names in U.S. industry—families such as the Mellons and the Firestones—so, too, did Trinity. In 1951, construction of the current buildings began, commissioned and overseen by millionaire philanthropist Paul Mellon, whose 4,000-acre working farm, Rokeby, lies just down the road.

Mellon and his wife, Bunny, gave the money for Trinity's church, parish house and rectory.

The church building, where services were first held in 1960, is made of sandstone quarried near Warrenton and is modeled after a style of French country churches of the 12th and 13th centuries, according to a church history.

Inside, sculpted ornamentation decorates the pulpit and 40 pews. The intricate carving was done by Heinz Warneke, known for his work at Washington National Cathedral. The ends of the pews are carved with depictions of plants native to the area.

The church bells were cast in England and are dedicated to the local workers who built the church. According to the church history, the men made their own stone-cutting tools at a forge on the property, much like medieval craftsmen.

Local residents said yesterday that Trinity has hosted numerous large funerals over the years and should have no trouble accommodating Cooke's, although heavily traveled Route 50, which runs alongside the church yard, is expected to clog up like the Redskins' defense on a goal-line stand.

Still, neighbors said Trinity can handle the onslaught. "They do this kind of thing all the time," said church member Nick Slater.

Church officials declined to discuss Thursday's services, which will be private. Burial plans have not been made public.

Helen McCarty, who has lived in the Upperville area for a quarter of a century, said she would see Cooke "every once in a while" going to services at the church. "A lot of the more notable types go to Trinity," she said.

Cooke also had ties to the church through its annual Hunt Country Stable Tour, a popular two-day charity event that allows visitors a peek at some of the area's swanky equestrian estates, including Cooke's 204-acre Kent Farms.

That's about as close as most of the area's residents ever got to Cooke, however. Few people could recall seeing him around town. In that, he was not unlike many of the well-heeled congregants at Trinity, who cherish their privacy.

Teresa Law, owner of the Upperville Country Store, was one of the few who had met Cooke. Last year, after Law's daughter, Whitney, was crowned Miss Middleburg Princess, Cooke agreed to have his picture taken with the 8-year-old at his estate. "I just thought it was really wonderful that he would take time out of his schedule to do something like that," Law said.

As the media spotlight focused on Upperville yesterday, residents seemed to take it in stride. There were concerns, however, about the fact that the Upperville Garden Club's annual daffodil show, one of the biggest in the area, is also scheduled for Thursday on the church grounds.

"I don't know how private they're going to be able to keep it," said a resident who declined to give her name. "It's going to be a madhouse."

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

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