Real People
I have a confession to make. I enjoy reading obituaries. I don't recall exactly when I started to turn to them, but I think it was shortly after I reached the half century mark. Just saying.
I prefer the obituaries of ordinary folks, which I get in the weekly papers from Fauquier County, Virginia, where my eponymous property is located. The titles (hardly headlines, are they?) generally identify the deceased in one or two words, and you know immediately you're not reading the New York Times, but instead a real newspaper for regular people. To make the NYT you have to be Secretary General, the President of France, or some other important international criminal.
But in Fauquier County the obits are for folks like "Rosa Lee Diggs, homemaker," who died at the hospital (which I energetically fear), though at age 86; or "Charles Calvin Harris Jr., worked in greenhouse," who died at home at age 73 (my man Charles! Rest in peace!) Many, particularly if they are quite elderly, and have moved out of the county into nursing homes, are identified merely as "Fauquier native." It's as if to say "You're one of us, wherever you were forced to flee, and some of us remember."
The Fauquier Times Democrat doesn't normally list the cause of death, which is a common enough convention I could do without. It's not a problem in the case of "Mary Louise S. Smith, homemaker," who was 85: She died because she was old, of one thing or another, as is our fate, and we can pray that before she was called home her stay in the hospital was mercifully short. And I don't need to know in the case of Brittany Nicole Graves, who was 17. For her, we may hope that Professor Lewis was correct, and she was snatched away from the Enemy.
But for the ones in the middle -- neither young nor old -- I really want to know. It's a contest, after all, and how will I otherwise know how I'm doing?
I prefer the obituaries of ordinary folks, which I get in the weekly papers from Fauquier County, Virginia, where my eponymous property is located. The titles (hardly headlines, are they?) generally identify the deceased in one or two words, and you know immediately you're not reading the New York Times, but instead a real newspaper for regular people. To make the NYT you have to be Secretary General, the President of France, or some other important international criminal.
But in Fauquier County the obits are for folks like "Rosa Lee Diggs, homemaker," who died at the hospital (which I energetically fear), though at age 86; or "Charles Calvin Harris Jr., worked in greenhouse," who died at home at age 73 (my man Charles! Rest in peace!) Many, particularly if they are quite elderly, and have moved out of the county into nursing homes, are identified merely as "Fauquier native." It's as if to say "You're one of us, wherever you were forced to flee, and some of us remember."
The Fauquier Times Democrat doesn't normally list the cause of death, which is a common enough convention I could do without. It's not a problem in the case of "Mary Louise S. Smith, homemaker," who was 85: She died because she was old, of one thing or another, as is our fate, and we can pray that before she was called home her stay in the hospital was mercifully short. And I don't need to know in the case of Brittany Nicole Graves, who was 17. For her, we may hope that Professor Lewis was correct, and she was snatched away from the Enemy.
But for the ones in the middle -- neither young nor old -- I really want to know. It's a contest, after all, and how will I otherwise know how I'm doing?
Presented for your delectation by the Gentleman Farmer at 6:53 PM
Comments on "Real People"
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Anonymous said ... (9:18 PM) :
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Anonymous said ... (2:08 PM) :
post a commentUnlike you, I do also want to know about poor Brittany Nicole Graves, 17. I have a 17-year-old daughter, too. Her surname is eerie in this context. It prompts an inappropriate Dickensian quip about there being more grave than gravy about her, or something.
Nope, doesn't work. Damn death. I'm waiting for the great Easter.
i was looking for some pictures of my friend when i came across this article or whatever it may be. i can see this was written almost a year ago, but just in case anyone does ever read this thing still, i'll tell you what happened to brittany nicole graves....... she was a very close friend of mine. i'm 18 myself. she died one week after she turned 17. she had been battling cancer. a brain tumor. and she was the sweetest and best person anyone in this world could have ever known. her memories live on inside of each of us. but anyhow, i was just trying to answer the question of what happened to her, and that's it. it was sad. and i miss. but i know she's in heaven, she loved the Lord with all her heart, and i'll see her again someday.