Zora Neale Hurston died on January 28, 1960, and funeral services were held on February 7 at the Percy S. Peek Funeral Home before her burial at Genesee Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Margaret Paige, administrative assistant and head of the business department at Lincoln Park Academy, organized a plan that raised well over $600 for Hurston’s funeral expenses through contributions from book publishers, school personnel, businessmen and women, and many other donors. Rev. W.A. Jennings, who delivered the eulogy, rejected the claim that Hurston had died penniless, saying that she died rich because her contributions would live on. Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, on January 15, 1891, and her family moved to Eatonville, Florida, in 1892, where her childhood experiences became lifelong influences on her research and writing. The Rosenwald Foundation fellowship was granted in 1935, not 1953.