I know. You have been wondering if I read the obits on Sunday and if so, why was I not posting the highlights?
You WERE wondering that, weren't you?
One of my clients went to the hospital Sunday night for a scheduled induction. So I was at the hospital with her until the wee hours between Monday and Tuesday. Anyway, it has been a seriously busy week and I am just now getting to the obits.
We had some real doozies used as euphemisms of dead. Check these out:
"lost her fight to infections Friday night, after a long hospitalization, and moved up to a better place."
"A Shining Light was extinguished on Tues." (Note, their capitalization and abbreviation, not mine)
"Went to rest with His heavenly Father on January 13"
"Billy Guy Buckelew passed into the loving arms of his Savior. "
There were a few lovely things said about the departed:
"Nora McGrath Ayraud was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. as a young girl. Her Irish heritage was a treasure to her and she had the easy Irish laugh and sense of humor all her life."
Okay, I just have to say here I don't get the whole changing your name or having a strange nickname thing, and why they stick them in the obituary.
Stanley Charles Davies, affectionately known as Fritz. (Now, you just know there is a really interesting story behind that nickname, don't you?) Fritz was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Elizabeth. (who, interestingly enough went by the nickname of "Liz").
Nan Derounian was born Emily Ann Kennard. Now, that right there has just got to be a great story! It goes on to list her parents names, siblings, daughters, and grandchildren, but the kicker is the great-grandson's name. Maximillion Boghos Hellmueller.
That, my friends, is a helluva moniker to slap on a small baby. Which brings me to the very cool, old-fashioned and interesting names!
And starting off that list will be the aforementioned Billy Guy Buckelew. I loved that name!
Next we have Mayme Imogene Young.
There was a lovely photo of a gentleman named Alton Ihnken Seekatz, aged 101. His parents were Ed and Adela Ihnken Seekatz. He married Lema Ruempel Seekatz.
Never in a million years would I want anyone to think that I would be speaking ill of the dead. That has never been my intention for sharing these little gems. With that in mind, you might want to pop over here and read this one your own self. I am warning you that it is looooong. It was written by, well, I don't rightly know how to describe the writing style of this one. I read the highlights out loud to my family on Sunday a.m. and they were all as shocked as I was. Not at the departed. No, she seemed like a lovely person and lots of fun. And you can tell they really loved her. But, let's just say this, some people should not try to string one word after the next. There are some sentences and thoughts in there (and I know they were really striving for something wonderful and unique) that were just so over the top. I couldn't possibly do it justice. Do yourself a favor and go read it.
Sort of makes you want to write your own obit so that this doesn't happen to you, doesn't it?
Me thinks that the obit writer was a frustrated writer...lol...holey moley, what literary device did they NOT use in there.lolol
ReplyDeleteI think losing your fight to an infection would be a grisly way to die.
ReplyDeleteHere's one for you, my grandmother who was a crazy little Irish woman, named my mother Helen Elizabeth after both her mother and mother-in-law. Since she didn't like either mother or either name for that matter, ( she just did it, "to keep my nagging husband off my back."), she decided she really cared for the name Nancy and so my mother has been named Nancy all her life. Nothing to do with either one of her legal names.
Off to read the obit.
I love the obituaries.
ReplyDeleteIn my past life as the Lifestyles Editor at a small town newspaper, I was in charge of the obits, so 3 times a week, I'd get to edit and format gems like these.
I always liked that people who died at, like, 89 had pictures in the paper of them at maybe 25.
long comment coming... forgotten story from the funeral that I thought you might enjoy.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandmom was buried in Arkansas, where she grew up and where her mother (Iva Fox) had been a teacher. Several people at the funeral had been students of the infamous Iva Fox... only, they weren't calling her Iva Fox. Several times I heard them refer to having had Mrs. June Fox. June was her husband's name, so it was very perplexing to me. My dad explained later that since she signed everything Mrs. June Fox, they all just called her Mrs. June Fox.
That obit was soooo long, I just knew I was going to die. Where were paragraphs to break it up and who taught this person to punctuate? Whew! Obviously no one edited this obit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the obits. The whole concept escapes me...lol...but you inspired me to read the obits online. Today, I discovered a dear friend's very young husband died a sudden death while out of town. Now, thanks to you, I will be able to attend the funeral. Over the years, I have missed a few funerals because I do not take the paper in our small town.
ReplyDeleteoh my.... their children are referred to as the "dividends" of their marriage? And how has the Earth continued to spin, now that the axis of the universe has passed????
ReplyDelete