Editing Frederick Funston (section)

===World War I and death===
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Frederick Funston headstone front.JPG
| width1 = 100
| alt1 = 
| caption1 = 
| image2 = Frederick Funston headstone rear.JPG
| width2 = 100
| alt2 = 
| caption2 = 
| footer = Funston's headstone, front and back
}}
Just prior to the [[American entry into World War I]], in April 1917, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] had favored Funston to head any [[American Expeditionary Forces|American Expeditionary Force]] (AEF) that would be sent overseas. Funston's intense focus on his work led to health problems: first, with a case of indigestion in January 1917, followed a month later by a fatal [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] at the age of 51 in [[San Antonio, Texas]].

In the moments before his death, Funston was relaxing in the lobby of the [[St. Anthony Hotel]]<ref>[http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/funston.html The Virtual Museum of the city of San Francisco]</ref> in San Antonio, listening to an orchestra play ''[[The Blue Danube]]'' [[waltz]].  After commenting, "How beautiful it all is," he collapsed from a massive [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] and died. He was holding six-year-old [[Inez Asher|Inez Harriett Silverberg]] in his arms.<ref>Friday, March 2, 1917, ''Greensboro Daily News'' (Greensboro, North Carolina) Page: 7</ref><ref>Tuesday, February 20, 1917 ''Omaha World-Herald'' (Omaha, Nebraska) p. 1</ref>

[[File:General Funston's Death.png|thumb|left|Funston's body lying in state at San Francisco City Hall]]

[[Douglas MacArthur]], then a major, had the unpleasant duty of breaking the news to President Wilson and Secretary of War [[Newton D. Baker]]. As MacArthur explained in his memoirs, "had the voice of doom spoken, the result could not have been different. The silence seemed like that of death itself. You could hear your own breathing."<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacArthur |first=Douglas |title=Reminiscences |date=2010 |publisher=Ishi Press |isbn=978-4-87187-882-1 |location=New York |pages=46}}</ref>

Funston lay in state at both the [[Alamo Mission in San Antonio|Alamo]] and the [[San Francisco City Hall|City Hall Rotunda]] in San Francisco. The latter honor gave him the distinction of being the first person to be recognized with this tribute, with his subsequent burial taking place in  [[San Francisco National Cemetery]]. After his death, the position of AEF commander went to Major General [[John J. Pershing]], who, as commanding general of the [[Pancho Villa Expedition|Punitive Expedition]] in 1916, had been Funston's subordinate. The [[Lake Merced]] military reservation (part of San Francisco's coastal defenses) was renamed [[Fort Funston]] in his honor, while the training camp built in 1917 next to Fort Riley in Kansas (which became the second-largest World War I camp) was named [[Camp Funston]]. San Francisco's [[Moscone Recreation Center|Funston Park]] and Funston Avenue are named for him, as is Funston Avenue in his hometown of New Carlisle, Ohio, and Funston Avenue near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. In Hawaii, Funston Road at Schofield Barracks and Funston Road at Fort Shafter are named after him. Funston's daughter, and his son and grandson, both of whom served in the [[United States Air Force]], were later interred with him.