Son writes hilarious, loving obituary for his dad: 'He is God's problem now'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Inspired Life
Son writes hilarious, loving obituary for his dad: ‘He is God’s problem now’
‘There are some people who might think it was irreverent and offensive, but I think it sounds about perfect,’ Charles Boehm said of his father’s obituary

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Charles Boehm, right, with his father, Robert Adolph Boehm, earlier this year in Clarendon, Tex. (Kim Boehm)

By Cathy Free
October 16, 2024 at 8:07 a.m. EDT

When Charles Boehm sat down in his Houston home to write his father’s obituary, he was stumped. ... “I’d never written an obituary before, so I decided to Google, ‘What do you put in an obituary?’” said Boehm. His father, Robert Adolph Boehm, died Oct. 6 at age 74 after falling and hitting his head in his Clarendon, Tex., apartment.

Boehm, 41, found the usual tips online about including a summary of the person’s life and a list of survivors. Then he stumbled upon an old obituary for Joe Heller of Centerbrook, Conn.

“Joe Heller made his last undignified and largely irreverent gesture on September 8, 2019, signing off on a life, in his words, ‘generally well-lived and with few regrets,” it began. “When the doctors confronted his daughters with the news last week that ‘your father is a very sick man,’ in unison they replied, ‘you have no idea.’”

The obituary then informed readers that Heller had left his family with a house full of junk, 300 pounds of birdseed and various dead houseplants.

{snip}

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Robert Adolph Boehm, left, had a difficult time coping after the death of his wife, Dianne Boehm, said Charles Boehm, right. He said he's thankful to the people of Clarendon, Tex., for checking in on his father. (Kim Boehm)

{snip}

By Cathy Free
Cathy Free is a human interest reporter who specializes in stories of humanity. She has written for The Washington Post's Inspired Life section since 2018.

[Solly Mack]

1. A testimonial of love.

[pansypoo53219]

2. i LOLED at the obits when a elderly man's face was photoshopped onto the rocky poster a few years

ago. i save the good one to share. i plan on adding some goodies to mine. like my cats names were cosmo + basil way before seinfeld's kramer + dr who said his name was basil.