Favorite obits of the week
I enjoyed this very local obituary in the Sacramento Bee about a 59-year-old community activist named Mary Brill. It’s a touching tribute to a woman who suffered multiple scelrosis, a brain tumor and other health ailments, yet remained a powerful and engaged advocate for local issues. It’s also interesting that the Sacramento Bee is not served by Legacy.com, that a fair number of people commented on the obituary, and that Ms. Brill was a single, unmarried woman.
This is an old obit from 1984 of Indira Ghandi that was featured on the New York Times website for obits of people who died on this day in history. This obit of the Indian leader is not much like an obit at all. First of all it’s very long and it’s more like a long feature article with a headline and section breaks. I think this is a good example of the kind of reporting that can be done around people who have died, especially prominent ones.
MING (WERNER WOLFGANG HEUBECK):
I feel I’m getting more and more into British obituaries, which are written in a very comic and sarcastic tone. Like this one, a story about a bus manager who fought for Nazi Germany and received a CBE 40 years after from the hands of the Queen. Here’s the words: “‘Her Majesty said that I must have an interesting job,’ he recalled in his gruff Bavarian accent. ‘I told her that sometimes it got too damn interesting.’”
Shiloh Pepin was expected to live for only days, but fought for years until her passing last Friday. She was born with ‘Mermaid Syndrome’, properly known as Sirenomelia, a condition defined by the fusion of the legs upon birth. It occurs in only 1 out of every 100,000 live births, making Shiloh’s story rare — even rarer because of her endurance. She attracted the attention of a worldwide audience, landing a recent appearance on Oprah. She was 10 years old.
Ray Browne, a former professor at Bowling Green State University, was a pioneer in the study of popular culture and championed its societal significance. Some people credit him with coining the term ‘popular culture,’ as it is rumored that he started using the phrase in the late 60s.
When the swine flu scare invaded Chicago, one of our journalism professors advised us to jump on this story, because it was going to be a big one. After reading Michael Milbrath’s obituary, I’m glad I didn’t take my professor’s advice.
I liked this obituary because Amos Ferguson was so important to Bahamian culture, but someone we, as Americans, probably haven’t heard of.