One of the leading plant physiologists died on April 14, at the age of 80. According to his obit, he “focused his research on plant metabolism and cell biology, whose discovery of the glyoxysome, a small organelle within some plant cells, led others to discover similar organelles called leaf peroxisomes, and stimulated further understanding of the role of peroxisomes in animals.”
His name was . . . Harry Beavers.
OK, sue me. I giggled like a schoolgirl. But I did feel badly about it.
Looks like Death has snatched another one…
I saved this notice from the Ann Arbor News…
McDonald, Ronald R.
Hamburg, MI
Age 60, died Oct. 11, 1996. Funeral service, Monday, October 14, 1996, 7 p.m. at Bell-Borek Funeral Home, Hamburg…
ooh! Can you scan it and email me a copy?
I’d be glad to, except I don’t have easy access to a scanner. I may be able to do it in a week or so at a friend’s house.
Can you scan it, post it and put link here? I’m sure there would be a few around who would love to have that gem.
The local paper once committed that most unforgivable of typos with the name of a decedant’s employer, Funk Manufacturing.
My favorite was the NYT headline for Salvador Dali’s obit: “So long, Dali, it’s been surreal.” I’d like to think he would have appreciated it.
Wedding announcements, however, are fair game.
I remember way back when I saw “Self, Dicken” in the paper. Even better, the bride’s name was Anita.
My department head was named Harold Beaver. His wife was Dorkus.
He had a sticker on his Jeep that said “Save a tree, eat a beaver”. I’m quite certain he had absolutely no clue as to what it was referencing.
One of my colleagues brought me a copy of an obituary for Ermajean MacDonald Tucker, as he rightly assumed I would be amused. It listed the normal “preceded in death by” and “surviving” stats, and then there is this paragraph:
Mrs. Tucker served on the boards of NBD Bank and Trust (FL), Fletcher Place Community Center and Alpha Home. She was a member of the Colombia Club, Woodstock Club, and Meridiean Hills Country Club in Indianapolis. In Naples, FL, she was a member of the Royal Poinciana Golf Club, the Naples Yacht Club, The Nature Conservancy of Naples, The David Lawrence Foundation, and the Naples Philharmonic Association. She was also a member of Sam’s Club.
Nice to know that the reasonably well-off Ms. Tucker was also a very thrifty shopper!
Are you sure it wasn’t the NY Post? I can’t see the Times having any sense of humor. The Post was, after all, the paper whose Fred Astaire obit headline was “Taps for Fred Astaire.”
I wished in vain that some paper would have headlined Gloria Swanson’s obit “Sic Transit Gloria Swanson.” Never happened.
Oh, I can just see the more evil-minded dads in Ann Arbor torturing their kids with this one.
“Oh, no! We’ll never be able to go to McDonald’s anymore. See? Ronald McDonald is dead.”
I wonder if the poor fellow died of a heart attack?
“…Devoted sister, beloved cunt…”
I’d never read the Post. Besides, the fact that it was in the NYT was precisely why it was so funny. I’ll see if I can find a link…
This wasn’t an obituary, it was on a guys credit card. His name? Harry Hardick. Now who would do that to their kid? They could’nt change the last name but to pair the first with Harry? Don’t you know that guy paid hell in school.
Actually, the Times had a brilliant obituary editor, Robert McG. Thomas, who injected quite a bit of humor into the page - both in the selection of the honorees and the writing. Sadly, his own obituary ran about four years ago - he was only 61.
:eek: Now that was just filthy. 