Grandma's Funny Obituary Goes Viral
Norma Brewer. Photo courtesy Donna Brewer/Splash News
Even in her final days, one 83-year-old grandmother never lost her sense of humor. And she’s got the obituary to prove it.
Norma Brewer died on January 27 from a stroke, but her obit, which first appeared in the Connecticut Post, tells a different story. “Norma Rae Flicker Brewer, a resident of Fairfield, passed away while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro,” the obituary reads. “She never realized her life goal of reaching the summit, but made it to the base camp. Her daughter, Donna, her dog, Mia, and her cats, came along at the last minute. There is suspicion that Mrs. Brewer died from hypothermia, after Mia ate Mrs. Brewer’s warm winter boots and socks.”
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Since its publication, the Connecticut obit has gone viral and has been featured in news outlets as far away as Australia.
Friends and family say it was a fitting final prank from a woman who was a life-long joker. “She was a very generous person, very kind person, and she had a sense of humor,” her son Ray Brewer tells Yahoo Parenting.
Photo courtesy Donna Brewer/Splash News
Norma wrote the obituary with a friend eleven years ago and the whole family knew it was coming. And while Ray says the funeral director “looked a little askance at it,” the family never wavered on whether or not to publish it. “For someone who gave so much to us in our lives, it seemed a small thing to do to honor that last wish.”
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Norma’s isn’t the first obituary that has gotten recent attention for mixing fact with fiction. The death notice for Aaron Purmort, who lost a long battle with brain cancer in November, claimed that the father was actually a superhero with a rock-star ex. “Purmort, Aaron Joseph age 35, died peacefully at home on November 25 after complications from a radioactive spider bite that led to years of crime-fighting and a years long battle with a nefarious criminal named Cancer, who has plagued our society for far too long,” it read. “Civilians will recognize him best as Spider-Man, and thank him for his many years of service protecting our city.” The obituary went on to explain that Purmort was survived by his “first wife Gwen Stefani.”
Ray says his mother would enjoy the attention her story has received. “She’d be getting a good laugh out of it,” he says. “If it gave some people somewhere a smile and lightened their day just a little bit, I think she would say ‘mission accomplished.’”
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