Dead But Loving It

This is either the greatest obit ever or one of the funniest hoaxes.   It opens with: "Waffle House lost a loyal customer on April 30, 2013." An elderly lady died in Miss. and two days ago this death notice appeared in the NYT no less.  Some people have assumed that a Times staffer wrote it--no such luck!  It's in the paid (classified) obit section, which gives folks artistic and comedic freedom.  Now, reading it, I presumed the woman was just a fictional character, but a Google search seems to show  a lady of this name living in Bay St. Louis city.  Also, her son (from the obit) has a Twitter feed (@jflarrouxiii)  that noted her passing with this: "No one wearing black will be admitted to the funeral!" But all part of a long-planned hoax?  I guess not.  Jim Romensko reports today: "I called the funeral home and the director said he’d try to get the author’s name. The Larroux memorial was going on when I talked to him. About 400 people were there, he said."

 I will research further but for now enjoy, gems such as this:

Any sendoff for Toni would not be complete without mentioning her lifelong buddy Myrtle Jane Wingo Haas and her adopted daughters Liz & Laura. She considered Aaron Burrell to be a distant grandson (not distant enough) and had the ability with family pets to usher them toward heaven at an unrivaled pace. Her favorite activity was sipping hot tea on her back porch with friends seated around her porch ensemble from Dollar General (again, not kidding.) This will be sold to the highest bidder at her garage 'estate' sale. Any gifts in her honor should be made to the Hancock County Library Foundation (to the overdue book fund.)

See comments section with obit--journalism prof planning to use it, others aspire to live a life that could be captured this way.