Patton Oswalt Pens Tribute to Late Wife Michelle McNamara on Anniversary of Her Death

Patton Oswalt posted a tribute to his late wife, Michelle McNamara, on the one-year anniversary of her death, ruminating on how his life has changed since she passed with the overarching message that while the experience is awful, life does go on.

McNamara, best known as a crime writer who operated the website TrueCrimeDiary, died in April 2016 as a result of drug interactions with a previously unknown health condition. She was 46.

The lengthy Facebook tribute posted Friday often mentions Oswalt and McNamara’s 8-year-old daughter, Alice, and how Oswalt’s life continues to revolve around her. He resolves to live as best he can, and writes that he has no intention to turn the anniversary of her death into “any sort of dark ritual or painful memorial.”

Oswalt describes taking off his wedding ring on Thursday, and how it marked a change for him — from a desire to hold on to McNamara for as long as possible to a realization that he must accept his life without her.

“I was inviting more darkness,” he wrote.

Included with the tribute are three photographs, showing a wooden memory box that he commissioned for the pair when they moved into their first apartment as boyfriend-girlfriend and some of the objects stowed inside, as well as a smiling photo of the pair taken a month after they started dating.

“Michelle brought me nothing but happiness,” Oswalt wrote. “You can see it in our faces.”

He also explains how important it is for he and those who knew McNamara to continue to keep things together in order to do right by her, who made their lives so much better.

Oswalt also posted two photos of McNamara to Twitter with the comment, “A beautiful friend. She opened up her heart and let me in…”

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