Children explain why they wrote mother's viral scathing obituary
The children who penned a scathing obituary following their mother’s death have opened up on the abandonment and abuse that prompted them to publish the now viral farewell.
Kathleen Dehmlow passed away on May 31 in Springfield, Minnesota at the age of 80, and the obituary submitted to her local newspaper by two of her children made it rather clear she will not be missed by them.
“She will not be missed by Gina and Jay, and they understand that this world is a better place without her,” the final paragraph read.
Despite some criticism it was too harsh, 58-year-old Jay Dehmalo and 60-year-old sister Gina have stood by their words, saying people will never understand the pain they endured as children.
“You can’t believe the dysfunction of the family,” Mr Dehmalo, who has since changed his last name to distance himself from his past, told the Daily Mail.
“They’ll never know what we went through but it helped us [to write this]. We wanted to finally get the last word.”
The obituary, which was published as exactly as written in the Redwood Falls Gazette, was initially rejected by one Springfield newspaper who deemed it too offensive to print.
It was later deleted from the publication’s online sites.
The 58-year-old said for years he and his sister had no idea that after their mother abandoned them and moved to California, she had given birth to two other sons with her husband’s brother.
“We didn’t have so much as a card from her. I remember she came home twice and on one occasion she was showing pictures of her and her kids playing cards, drinking beers,” Mr Dehmalo added.
“Gina and I were standing in the room, just standing there and she didn’t even acknowledge us. It’s like we didn’t exist… How can you do that to your own children?”
Both Jay and Gina said given the chance again, they would publish the same obituary.
