Suggestion for Obituary Thread

[Bestwifeever]

Our newspaper has been running this editorial/obituary on Memorial Day since 2001--I love it:

Memorial Day tribute - chicagotribune.com

The obit, written by his daughter, starts about three paragraphs down into the story; this is the beginning of it:

Harry N. "Red" Madsen, 76, retired railroad brakeman, died Sept. 15, 1996, in Audubon, Iowa, 13 miles from where he was born.

...Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army, which put him in the Signal Corps. During training, he met Betty Kaplan of Brooklyn, N.Y., and married her in Stuart, Fla., before he was shipped to the Pacific. When the Army finally let Red go in 1946, he and Betty settled in Chicago. He returned to Audubon and Westphalia, Iowa, working as a custom butcher. He later worked the railroad, most of the time for the Chicago & North Western. He married three times, with two of his spouses passing away.

Red Madsen loved his wives, his kids, everybody else's kids, his family, dogs, fishing, whittling, doodling, reading (especially Mark Twain), Cord automobiles, hoisting a few with friends and telling stories. It pleased him that mischief might break out at any time, but it distressed him if anyone got hurt by it, unless maybe it was some powerful S.O.B. who deserved it.

 

[REWahoo]

Feever, that's outstanding. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Westernskies]

Mortuary Monday?
Funeral Friday?

 

[jIMOh]

The only song I want played is the Dance, by Garth Brooks, and that might be an appropriate thread title too.

 

[RonBoyd]

The only song I want played is the Dance, by Garth Brooks, and that might be an appropriate thread title too.

or the actual GB rendition of this:

YouTube - Big Money (The Captain Sings A Garth Brooks Hit from The 90's COVER) PLEASE USE HEADPHONES

My older brother Tommy
Was a lineman
Rest his soul
His job was hanging hot wires
On them high-line power poles
Every morning bright and early
He'd climb way up in the sky
And I never understood it
So one day I asked him why

[CHORUS:]
He said it pays big money
And man I'm into that
It pays big money
If you're willing to
Take a chance
Let me tell you something sonny
You ought to see
My bank account
It pays big money but
He sure can't spend it now

Well, my late Uncle Charlie
Was this demolition hound
He'd travel across the country
Blowing buildings to the ground
He carried a case of dynamite
Seemed everywhere he went
He smoked them big long cigars
And he'd wink at you and grin

[Repeat chorus]

Well now the
Moral of this story boys
Is don't go
Getting yourself killed
Be kind to your rich relatives
They just might
Put you in their will

That pays big money and
We're all into that
It pays big money and
Big money's where it's at
Let me tell you something sonny
You ought to see my bank account
It pays big money and
We're rolling in it now

It pays big money
Having foolish kin
It pays big money
Guess I owe it all to them
Let me show you something sonny
Take a look at this bank account
It pays big money
Let's all spend some of it now