This Son’s Irreverent Obituary Is The Best Thing You’ll Read All Week

I’ve written an obit or two in my time. There’s a simple recipe: solemn, respectful reflections on the highlights of a loved one’s life. But after reading Andy Corren’s filthy tribute to his 84-year-old mother, the recently deceased Renay Mandel Corren, I’m rethinking everything I thought I knew.

The obit went viral on Twitter when crime author Sarah Weinman posted it with the caption, “This obit, my god.” And with an opening line like, “A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday,” how could it not have gone viral?

This obit, my god. https://t.co/tWoTdUIAnN

— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) December 15, 2021

In the obit, Corren cheekily explains that he’s honoring his mother’s death the way she lived: with no class at all.

“I treat it with the same respect and reverence she had for, well, nothing,” Corren writes. “A more disrespectful, trash-reading, talking and watching woman in NC, FL or TX was not to be found.”

It should be no surprise that this wit comes from a queer person. Corren describes himself as “her favorite son, the gay one who writes catty obituaries in his spare time,” and notes that his mother “​​took tremendous pride in making 1 gay son and 2 gay grandchildren.” Now that’s allyship.

I’ll leave the best details for you to discover yourself. Here ya go. We can all only hope to be loved enough to be read to filth like this when we’re gone.