Family, Friends Say Goodbye To Amtrak Crash Victim Laura Finamore

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Friends and family of Laura Finamore, one of the eight people killed in last week's Amtrak train derailment, are saying their goodbyes Monday, just blocks from where the real estate executive grew up in Queens.

As WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported, Finamore's white casket was carried up the steps of St. Anastasia Church in Little Neck.

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Finamore, 47, grew up in Douglaston, Queens. She went to Cardozo High School in Bayside and then George Washington University. Finamore was a managing director at Cushman & Wakefield.

Maria Pitsironis said she remembers first meeting Finamore when she was 9 years old.

"She was an unforgettable girl," Pitsironis told Silverman. "Full of love, very expressive in her words and her motions. She was really an angel for me."

Finamore leaves behind her parents and three brothers.

"Laura's smile could light up a room and her infectious laughter will be remembered by many for years to come," her family said in a statement. "She was always there when you needed her -- with a hug, encouraging words or a pat on the back."

Finamore was one of eight people killed when a Washington-to-New York Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. More than 200 others were injured.

Meanwhile in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, the funeral was held for Rachel Jacobs, a 39-year-old educational software startup chief executive killed in the crash.

Jessica Steinhart says her sister was her "role model ... confidant ... best friend" and "a hard act to follow."

Jacobs was married, with a 2-year-old son. She grew up in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and lived in Manhattan. She earned a master's degree from Columbia Business School and headed Philadelphia-based ApprenNet.

Her mother is ex-Democratic Michigan state Sen. Gilda Jacobs, chief executive of the Michigan League for Public Policy.

A funeral was also being held Monday in Holmdel, New Jersey, for Bob Gildersleeve, 45, of Elkridge, Maryland. Gildersleeve, who was vice president of a food-safety company called Ecolab, was originally from Monmouth County.

Meanwhile, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have focused on the acceleration of the train as it approached the curve, finally reaching 106 mph as it entered the 50-mph stretch north of central Philadelphia, and only managing to slow down slightly before the crash.

The Amtrak engineer, who was among those injured in the crash, has told authorities that he does not recall anything in the few minutes before it happened.

Investigators also have been looking into reports that the windshield of the train may have been struck by some sort of object, but NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program Sunday that he wanted to "downplay" the idea that damage to the windshield might have come from someone firing a shot at the train.

"I've seen the fracture pattern; it looks like something about the size of a grapefruit, if you will, and it did not even penetrate the entire windshield," Sumwalt said.

Amtrak service resumed Monday between New York and Philadelphia.

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