When Sean Kelly sat down to try and capture his late mum’s spirit in 100 or so words, he had “no idea” it would become a worldwide story.
The honest and unfiltered obituary for his “wild and wayward” mum Jennie, first published in the Sydney Morning Herald, quickly attracted global attention.
Jennifer Ann Kelly, known by her loved ones as ‘Jennie’, died aged 88 on October 28.
Sean and his brother Chris then penned a unique tribute to their dearly departed mother, describing her as a woman who grew marijuana and loved her champagne.
Jennie was also the kind of person who refused to say “passed” and “never wanted to leave a party”, the obituary read.
“I wasn’t looking for this to go viral, I had no idea it was going to be so popular,” Sean told 9news.com.au.
“I was quite surprised and am still processing the events of [her passing].
“Sophie, my daughter, said ‘Have a look on Reddit, there’s all these comments coming up about your mum’. And it just went from there.”
Sean said, if she was alive to see it, his late mother would have pretended to be “mortified” by the international virality of her obituary.
“But all my friends assure me that she would have been delighted by the attention,” he added.
Sean wrote the obituary and his brother Chris helped with prompts about Jennie’s affinity for gin and champagne.
They’re both equally happy their mother’s memory lives on, Sean said.
He knows she won’t soon be forgotten thanks to his way with words.
“We spend most of our lives compensating for our upbringing said Jennie,” the obituary reads.
“She believed that exposing youth to religion was a form of child abuse.
“It was impossible to watch the news in her presence due to her vocal outrage at the way the country is run. She held John Howard in particular contempt.”
Sean and Chris said their mother “grew great dope” and “never wanted to leave a party”.
They also labelled her “attempts at ‘responsible parenting or grandparenting” as touching.
“She said Sean was a much better driver than Chris,” the obituary continued.
“News on what’s next to follow. Bring a shovel.”
The 126-word obituary, buried on page 49 of the tributes and celebrations page of the Nine newspaper, immediately won hearts across the world.
It triggered a deluge of comments on the online death notice from mourners who never met Jennie.
“I wish I’d known Jennie, she sounds wonderful. Thank you for a wonderful obituary – clearly Jennie lived until she died,” one person wrote in the public guestbook.
“Your mum sounds phenomenal. The amazing tribute has reached thousands of people in the UK,” another touching message read.
A popular Reddit discussion also prompted hundreds of people to comment on the witty obituary and Sean added his own message to the thread.
“Of course you can’t define anyone in a few sentences,” he said.
“She was a fierce and loyal parent of two boys and we looked after her until the end.”
Jennie spent her last days with her sons as her health declined.
He was glad to have shown her a picture book he wrote, Rudder to the Rescue: Lost, which he finished shortly before her death.
Sean said his mother had a fall at age 85 and she was never the same, describing her as a “ghost of who she once was”.
