Dead[set] Against Bush: the Gertrude Jones Obituary Hoax

Obituary published in The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, on 10/2/2003:

Gertrude M. Jones, 81, passed away on August 25, 2003, under the loving care of the nursing aides of Heritage Manor of Mandeville, Louisiana. She was a native of Lebanon, KY. She was a retired Vice President of Georgia International Life Insurance Company of Atlanta, GA.

Her husband, Warren K. Jones predeceased her. Two daughters survive her: Dawn Hunt and her live-in boyfriend, Roland, of Mandeville, LA; and Melba Kovalak and her husband, Drew Kovalak, of Woodbury, MN. Three sisters, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren, also survive her. Funeral services were held in Louisville, KY.

Memorial gifts may be made to any organization that seeks the removal of President George Bush from office.

I became a little worried that this obituary might be yet another internet hoax. But Snopes.com, an Urban Legends website confirmed its autheticity. It can be found on the newspaper’s site.

UPDATE

SCB read this post & did some sleuthing of his/her own & has made a convincing argument to me that the above obituary may be a hoax of sorts. Here’s her e mail to me:

I think your instincts were right. While I detest Bush also, the Gertrude M. Jones obituary set off my “BS Detector” almost immediately, even though an “urbanlegends” site said it’s “true” and linked the Picayune obit page to “prove” it.

What made me suspicious is the mention of a “live-in boyfriend” by first name only, then the omission of the names of the other actual family members!

For this reason alone, this is NOT an appropriate obituary, nor one that an 81-year-old Southern woman would approve of, I assure you. It makes the anti-Bush donation request equally suspect. A “rogue” family member, (perhaps the daughter in Mandeville, LA with the “live-in boyfriend”?) may have come up with this very tacky obituary. It could even be a direct contradiction of the woman’s political leanings in a final “gotcha” by a disgruntled daughter…

THIS obituary, published in the Louisville, KY Courier-Journal seems much more appropriate, and valid. She also goes from being a “Vice President” to an accounting employee with GA Life:

Gertrude M. Jones

Gertrude M. Jones, 81, formerly of Louisville, passed away Monday, August 25, 2003, in East Mandeville, LA. She was the former Gertrude Mann, a native of Lebanon, KY, an employee in the accounting department of Georgia International Life Insurance Co. and a former member of St. Pius X Catholic Church. She is survived by two daughters, Dawn L. Hunt and Melba J. Kovalak; three sisters, Drucella Stine, Mary Alice Marzian and Borgie Smith; two sisters-in-law, Josephine Mann and Geneva Jones; four grandchildren, Melissa Hinebaugh, Donald Hunt and Brad and David Kovalak; and three great-grandchildren, Nathan, Patrick and Delaney Hinebaugh. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Ratterman & Sons Family Funeral Home, 3800 Bardstown Rd., with burial in Resthaven Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 1-8 p.m. Thursday. Memorial gifts may go to the American Cancer Society.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 8/27/2003.

Take care…

A Southerner

Thanks, SCB for correcting the record.

A later update: Snopes. com has updated its evaluation of the hoaxster obituary and pointed out its discrepancies and inconsistencies. At first, I thought it odd that the site lists the status of the story as “true.” But after writing to the site owner, he pointed out that the obituary is not a hoax in the true sense of the word. Someone actually did submit this obituary (including the item about donations to defeat Bush) to the newspaper and the newspaper did print it. It is certainly possible (or even probable) that the person who added the Bush item did not represent the real wishes of the deceased or even the rest of the family. But it was an actual obituary.