Reading the Obits

Before I tell you all about the local obituaries, I have to let you in on one my sister read and called to tell me about.  All she gave me was the euphemism for dead, and really?  that was enough.  Here goes:

Was terminally inconvenienced and left us.

What do you think of THAT?  Can you imagine the state of mind you would be in to come up with that little turn of phrase?  My guess is that someone had their nose out of joint!

The interesting ones I found in our paper were:

Was taken by angels to be with our Heavenly Father

Was gently taken into the Lord's hands after a long battle with COPD.


This week's listings of dearly departed included two to be buried in the homeless veterans' section.  Two in one week.  We have at least one per month.  This just seems wrong to me.  The fact that we have homeless veterans is shameful.   Patty Cakes and I really need to find out what we need to do to be able to attend these services.  The military cemetery is the second largest behind Arlington and is on Ft. Sam Houston so you have to check in and get clearance and all to even be there.  This will be my mission to figure this out.

There were no small children listed, thankfully.  But there was one 17 year old.  No cause of death was given.  Most people don't put a cause of death, but some do, such as the COPD listing above.   Some people let you know by saying "in lieu of flowers, please donate to the Heart Association" or lungs, or most often cancer.  Lots of cancer.  It is so discouraging to read those.  But it is also important for future generations to be able to read them and see something about what was going on in this time.

Have you been watching those shows on PBS and now NBC about finding out your heritage?  These shows are only finding famous people's ancestors, like Lisa Kudrow and her long-lost cousin Boleslaw!!  Yep, she has a Boleslaw in her family tree.  Anyway, the way they research and find people and are able to answer questions is due to accurate records being kept.  I think we need to be as truthful as possible about these things.  Suppose your great-great-great grandchild was tracing family history and one big component of this is hereditary disease, you are doing a huge service by writing things down for them to be able to find out this stuff.

I will leave you with the "Name of the week":  Alejandra Alejandro.  (Note: this is her married name. which means she took it on purpose rather than keeping whatever was her maiden name)  Not a great call in my opinion.  : )