My very first assignment in my very first journalism class in college was to write my own obituary. The reason is because the first news job most young journalists used to get out of college was writing obituaries (now most journalism majors don't even know where to find a newspaper). You see, obituaries are often very straight-forward stories and therefore are the easiest to write. [Sidebar #1: For the record my obituary had me falling from the balcony of the Boston Garden following a Celtic win and included a fake quote from my mother saying, "It was the way he would have wanted to go." My journalism professor told me I had to re-write because, "there is no place for humor in the obituaries." Never did like that guy.]
Anyway, while I may not have agreed with that premise, I do agree that the obituaries are often some of the most compelling stories in the newspaper. Take, for example, the case of Huguette Clark. Ms. Clark was a 104 year-old reclusive multi-millionaire, who's fortune at the time of her passing was estimated in the area of $350 million. Clark's vast fortune had netted her several expensive real estate properties, including a 42-room apartment on 5th Avenue in New York City, valued at $100 million, which she hadn't been in for 20 years and a mansion in Connecticut that she never set foot in. (Hey, she only had 104 years to get around to it.) Apparently her real love was expensive French dolls (I, and no doubt her neighbors, am just happy it wasn't cats), which she would only buy from one guy and even then she would only negotiate through a closed door. This is the kind of story that couldn't be made into a movie, because people wouldn't believe it.
The point is, everyone has a story to tell and even if the person they are written about never became famous, some of the greatest stories you've never heard are told in the obits. [Sidebar #2: I wish I could tell this was why they are often the first section most Irish people turn to, but that's not the reason why they are the Irish comics. It's because the obituaries are how Irish people keep score. Apparently, he who can go to the most wakes, wins.] That is why I'm glad most of these stories get told. It would be a shame if people outside the family never knew how amazing their friends and neighbors really were just because they were also modest (or reclusive). The old saying is that everyone gets 15 minutes of fame, and I think if you had to choose, it may as well be your last 15 minutes.
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