Children write 'savage' obituary for mother who abandoned them

A photo of the obituary, originally published in the Redwood Falls Gazette, was posted on Twitter. (@RandBallsStu / Twitter)

The obituary for 80-year-old Kathleen Dehmlow begins much like any other.

She was born on March 19, 1938 to Joseph and Gertrude Schunk of Wabasso, Fla. She married Dennis Dehmlow in Wabasso in 1957 and had two children named Gina and Jay.

And that’s where the niceties end.

From there, the unusual tribute, written by Gina and Jay, explains that Dehmlow became pregnant with her husband’s brother’s baby. She abandoned her children and moved to California with her husband’s brother, according to the obituary.

Gina and Jay write that they were raised by their mother’s parents in Clements, Calif. They then finish the brief obituary with a particularly scathing sentiment.

“She passed away on May 31, 2018 in Springfield [Minn.] and will now face judgement. She will not be missed by Gina and Jay, and they understand that this world is a better place without her,” they wrote.

A photo of the original obituary published in the local paper the Redwood Falls Gazette was posted on Twitter on Monday where it has attracted thousands of retweets and comments.

Many commenters commended Gina and Jay for their obituary.

While others expressed sympathy for Dehmlow in their posts.

A number of posters related to the authors’ grudge against their mother.

Other notable obituaries:

Gina and Jay aren’t the only relatives to pen obituaries that raised eyebrows. Here’s a selection of some other notable tributes that attracted headlines:

'Wicked, wicked witch'

In 2013, the children of an abusive Nevada woman wrote a harsh obituary celebrating her death and condemning child abuse. The woman’s son said the children faced regular physical and mental punishment at the hands of their mother and described her as the “wicked, wicked witch.”

#MyOzObituary

An obituary for bestselling Australian author Colleen McCullough attracted the ire of Twitter users three years ago when the author wrote that she was “plain of feature, and certainly overweight.” The ill-advised tribute even inspired its own hashtag #MyOzObituary.

'I was born. I lived. I died.'

Last year, a “blunt” 91-year-old Ohio woman wrote her own obituary where she warned her relatives to “wait the appropriate amount of time” before claiming her belongings.

'Killing themselves laughing'

In 2015, a Toronto man published a tribute to his mother who left behind “a hell of a lot of stuff” and asked readers to come claim in it in a tongue-in-cheek obituary.

'Leafs Nation to the end'

Lastly, even the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t exempt from a final parting shot from one of their devoted fans. The obituary for Hamilton, Ont. man Terrance Warren Siebert took aim at the NHL team in a witty final line.

“It was Terry's last wish that his pallbearers be the Toronto Maple Leafs so they could let him down one last time,” the obituary said.