Marie Virginia Noncent

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Text on Button The Lord's Angel Watches Over Us FIRST LADY Marie Virginia Noncent Sunrise March 18, 1940 Sunset August 5, 2010
Image Description

Photograph of woman in white formal clothes with hat, above and below are white text, all on blue patterned background.

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Bereavement can take many forms, one of which is celebrating the life of the deceased. This bereavement artifact celebrates the life of Marie Virginia Noncent (1940-2010). She was a wife of a bishop and a member of the First Haitian Church of God in Trenton, New Jersey. 

The tradition of bereavement wearables dates back to 1498 with Anne of Brittany donning black after the death of Charles VIII of France. Queen Victoria of England ordered all her people to wear black while she wore a bereavement button of carved black jet in honor of her deceased husband King Albert in the early 19th century. In 1861, this act is the first depicted mourning button. These traditions created a trend throughout the British Empire still in use today of honoring loved ones through mourning buttons. Today, these items are typically pinback buttons with a photo of the deceased, their birth and death dates, and often a phrase indicating rest in peace.

Sources

Admin. (2010, August 12). View Marie NONCENT's Obituary and express your condolences. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/marie-noncent-obituary?pid=14463…

Helena, v. parlAmore • tradition of mourning buttons • Queen Victoria. Retrieved 20 February 2021, from http://www.parlamore.com/_pages/menuleft/mourningbutton.php

Stewart, J. (2012, June 14). The Button: A Visual History of the World's Sexiest Fastening. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2012/06/button_history_a_visu…

Catalog ID EV0904