Death by media (and funeral home)

Thanks to an error made by a funeral home, the Bangor Daily News sent a woman to an early grave last week:

BANGOR, Maine - Anne E. Hathaway was somewhat shocked Friday when a friend called to see if she was still alive.
The Orono resident’s obituary had appeared in Friday’s Bangor Daily News. The information in the short obituary and the list of death notices was correct, except for the part about her being dead.
The deceased was actually Ann Hathaway of Bangor.
Both women had made advance funeral arrangements at the same funeral home. When pulling the file for the deceased Ann Hathaway, the funeral home employee didn’t realize there were two women with very similar names and grabbed the wrong one.
“A friend called me early this morning because somebody had called her and said, ‘Weren’t you with Anne yesterday? Well, she’s gone,” Hathaway said Friday afternoon.
At 92, Hathaway admits she’s no spring chicken but said that she’s not dead yet.
“I just laughed,” Hathaway said. “I went to the pearly gates and opened the door and they didn’t have any strawberry shortcake and they didn’t like the way my hair looked.”… Link

Thanks, Steve!

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2 Comments

  1. Posted December 19, 2007 at 1:04 pm | Permalink

    Mistakes made in life no longer surprise me. But mistakes in death,reporting the death with mistakes in the report and paying too much for funeral are serious matters.

    Your Funeral Guy
    R. Brian Burkhardt
    Funeral Director
    Author

  2. Charlene
    Posted December 19, 2007 at 1:31 pm | Permalink

    She’s been Vigodaed!

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