4 relatives who died in Queens fire are laid to rest

FOUR PRISTINE white caskets were lined up in a sad row Saturday as the young victims of a raging Queens house fire were remembered in song and spirit at a jam-packed funeral.

More than 1,000 mourners packed the pews of the New Bethel Ministries in Queens Village, where tears flowed freely for the dead — a quartet of relatives, with the oldest only age 20. Particularly heartbreaking was the sight of the tiniest coffin, holding 2-year-old victim Chayce Lipford. Many attendees wore white T-shirts with the words “My little angels, gone but never forgotten.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of several eulogists, acknowledged that finding an explanation for such tragedy was a fruitless pursuit.

“I don’t know what happened,” Sharpton said. “I know that it happened. And that any way we can embrace and stand with these family members, we need to do it.”

The four victims remembered Saturday all came from the same extended family: sisters Jada Foxworth, 20, and Destiny Dones, 16, along with Rashawn Matthews, 10, and Chayce.

The funeral program, “A Celebration of Life,” bore photos on its cover of the doomed foursome — each fitted with angels’ wings.

“This is a homegoing service,” said one preacher in his sermon. “This is a celebration.”

But the mood was somber two weeks after the fire took the young lives in the blink of an eye.

The raging April 23 blaze in the two-story Queens Village home killed five people, with the thick black smoke and searing flames repelling would-be rescuers from getting inside.

There were no smoke detectors in the 97-year-old woodframe home, according to the FDNY. The cause of the deadly blaze remained under investigation.

Little Chayce’s grandmother said after the blaze that she was actually out buying smoke alarms when the fire started. She was still shopping when the call came in about the tragedy.

The fifth victim, 17-year-old Melody Edwards, was a friend of one of the older girls who had popped in for a visit. She was buried following a funeral on Wednesday.

The funeral service was arranged by Sheener Bailey-Briggs, a relative who remained thunderstruck by the toll of the fire.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she said before the service. “But I don’t know about this one.”

Beverly Ball is consoled at funeral in Queens for four relatives (opposite page, far right) killed in Queens fire last month. Insets show other mourners at service at New Bethel Ministries in Queens Village. In main photo, pall bearers bear tiny coffin...