Woman, 81, Who Died in Apt. Fire Was Former Manager of Washington Square Music Fest

The 81-year-old woman who was killed early March 5 when fire erupted in a Greenwich Village townhouse was being remembered as the former manager of the Greenwich Village Music who was long active in Village life.

“Our beloved Jean Lyman Goetz, former Festival Manager, died this morning in an apartment fire,” the Washington Square Music Festival posted on its Facebook page on March 5. “Her kindness and love for the Washington Square Music Festival will be greatly missed.”

”This breaks my heart. She was so wonderful to work with,” wrote Ted Sterns.

In 1998, Goetz was quoted in a New York Times article as the festival was getting ready to open its 39th season, ‘’The city is so beautiful at twilight. The audience is quiet while the city buzzes around them and the music plays in the park.’’

“She was a thoughtful and kind person,” posted Elizabeth Bunton. “We all loved her at the music festival.”

Goetz remained active in the festival well into her 70s.

She was also active in the Dzieci Theatre, where as recently as 2018 she was serving as the press agent for the troupe, which staged its annual Fool’s Mass around Christmastime in churches and cathedrals around New York City.

In 2018, at age 74, she was named as one of the Grand Marshals of the 28th annual children’s Halloween parade sponsored by NYU and Community Board 2.

Her demise came quickly. About 60 firefighters responded to the blaze that broke out inside the five-story residential building at 142 Waverly Pl. around 7:20 a.m. The blaze was extinguished in 40 minutes, but firefighters were unable to revive Goetz when they discovered her unconscious in her fifth-floor apartment. One report said the fire may have been started in the electrical wiring in the ceiling above the fourth-floor apartment, but the FDNY had not released an official cause of fire at press time and said fire marshals were still investigating.

Goetz’s daughter Natasha, who lives nearby, was captured in a photograph in amNewYork weeping on the shoulder of a firefighter. The same report quoted a grandson, Griffin, who said he has hopes of becoming an FDNY firefighter.