Is it a morbid curiosity or what that makes people look at the obituaries? I mean I never used to look at them when I was younger and I can’t tell you the turning point. Maybe when I hit 40 or 45? I don’t think it was a certain number, but maybe after hearing about a few people I knew dying, and then reading about friend’s parents and stuff, I am now an obit addict. Usually it’s the same thing, too, we will check names, but then also ages. If someone is “young” then I have to see if there was a listed cause.
Were they in a car wreck, should I send money to the Cancer foundation, or diabetes or what? The worst is when there is no explanation. Natural causes or something like that. Natural Causes? and the photo is usually someone you’d expect to see walking down the street.
Another oddity is the old person who just has a photo of them from 50 years ago. I see a lot of WW2 vets smiling in their uniforms, and the person is like 75 years old. Most people would never recognize the person from the photo. On the other hand I like the old/young photo montage. “oh, so that’s what they looked like when they were young” Interesting.
nuff said
And the cause of today’s post? I saw a name I recognized. It was a “friend’s” father. Larry X, Sr. 74, died, blah, blah, history, surviving: wife, two daughters. No Larry Jr. Nothing. Larry senior was a cop and jr was a criminal. Guess he got disowned to the point where he didn’t even make the obit survivors listing.
Funny thing was that I did a post about running into Jr. You know those people that you don’t like, but you seem to see them over and over again in your lifetime? You don’t ever run into folks you wish you would. It’s always the losers and dregs of society. That’s Larry Jr.
When I was 17 and on my way to basic training I ran into Larry at the bus station. He was on his way to some halfway house on his own recognizance and stinking of whiskey. We recognized each other and knew we were on totally different paths. I think he was 18 and I’m sure as he was smelling of booze the arrival at the halfway house was going to be a bad scene. Funny (odd) how the characters pass by and you wonder how the hell can anyone live their life that way.
Larry Sr. was a prick, and Larry Jr was shuttled around to live with different relatives growing up, but that doesn’t excuse behavior, it just explains the start of a wasted life. A life that is ignored even amongst the dead and gone.
