On a day that should have brought a double celebration - Mother's Day and their mom's birthday - Polina Aronov, 22, gave up a cherished gold cross to place in her mother's coffin.

Her 9-year-old sister, Veronica Aronov, wrote a private letter to her mom, who will be buried today.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to be more sad than I already am," Veronica told family friend Olga Dolgicer, as relatives prepared for the funeral of the 44-year-old Russian woman whose mysterious disappearance had gripped the city.

Aronov's decomposed body surfaced Tuesday in the East River, ending a search for the woman who had vanished March 3, blocks from her home at York Ave. and E. 64th St.

She had been out walking her father's cocker spaniel, Bim, when she disappeared from a bustling East Side street.

The family remains convinced that Aronov, who worked selling rare books and art, was the victim of foul play.

"This city should remember that this was a crime," Dolgicer said. "We have to find out what happened to her."

An autopsy showed drowning was the cause of death, and detectives have not ruled out suicide or an accident. Aronov's legs showed small superficial bruises that match the height of a metal barrier that separates a promenade near her home from the river, suggesting she may have injured herself as she fell into the frigid water.

The family gathered for a somber memorial service last night in an incense-heavy chapel of the Synodal Cathedral of the Mother of God of the Sign, the Russian Orthodox Church where Aronov will be eulogized today. About 30 friends and family members held lit candles as a priest, wearing a black robe and speaking in Old Church Slavonic, prayed.

"We're still in one piece. But I'm not over it," Aronov's husband, Dr. Alexander Aronov, an oncologist, said earlier yesterday.

Aronov will be buried near her weekend home on Long Island after today's 11 a.m. service.

"Their only hope is to be able to walk to the grave and not collapse," Dolgicer said.

"We don't know how to handle it. We don't know what the rules are - except to acknowledge what a sad day it is."

With Celeste Katz

Originally published on May 12, 2003