Sons win hearts with unconventional obituary for their ‘wild and wayward’ mother

‘Bring a shovel,’ said Sean and Chris Kelly in the viral obituary for their late mother, Jennifer Ann Kelly

An unconventional obituary for a woman in Australia has gone viral on social media.

The Sydney Morning Herald recently shared the obituary for Jennifer Ann Kelly, who died on October 28 at the age of 88. At the start of the death notice, her sons – Sean and Chris Kelly – shared a few qualities and facts about their mother.

“Farewell Jennie Kelly. Born 15 May 1936. Our wild and wayward mother died on 28 October 2024,” the obituary read. “She refused to say ‘passed.’ We spend most of our lives compensating for our upbringing said Jennie.”

Sean and Chris then playfully described her beliefs and behaviors, adding: “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.”

The pair also noted that Jennifer held John Howard, who’s the former prime minister of Australia, “in a particular contempt” and quipped about her parenting skills.

“Mum grew great dope, never wanted to leave a party and gave up champagne or gin frequently, but never simultaneously,” the obituary continued. “Her rare attempts at ‘responsible’ parenting or grandparenting were always touching. She said Sean was a much better driver than Chris. News on what’s next to follow.”

Sean and Chris ended the obituary with a joke about their mother’s burial, writing: “Bring a shovel.”

The obituary quickly went viral on Facebook, as it was shared by the account for author Lisa Herbert’s book, The Bottom Drawer Book: The After Death Action Plan. In the comments of the post, multiple people praised the humorous obituary.

“Just brilliant – I have to agree with the use of the word ‘passed,’ it has always annoyed me – people DIE,” one Facebook user wrote in the comments.

“I’ve been drafting an honest piece like this for years together with a eulogy, lately Mum showed interest in what might be said after she has died. I’m not sure she is ready to read it yet. Lol it could bring on the event,” another added.

“Love this one, made me smile (even though it was a bereavement notice). She sounds like a fun lady,” a third person agreed.

Many people shared similar reactions to the obituary in the comments of The Sydney Morning Herald’s post, noting that they wished they had the opportunity to meet Jennifer.

“I did not know this lady but Australia has obviously lost a great person. Keep her spirit alive in all of you and never give up gin and champagne at the same time. Words to live by!” one fan wrote.

“I wish I’d known Jenny, she sounds wonderful” another person responded. “Thank you for a wonderful obituary – clearly Jenny lived until she died.”

Speaking to The Independent, Sean explained that when writing the obituary, he wasn’t necessarily aware of how death notices typically look. However, his loved ones still believe that his mother would have loved the jokes that he and Chris wrote.

“My thoughts are that she would be slightly mortified by her notoriety but her friends assure me that she would have been delighted with all the attention. Other than checking the index occasionally to confirm that my name is not listed and in the hope that some others are, I don’t tend to read the death notices, thus I was not particularly conscious of the generally staid format they follow,” he said. “The words fell onto the page in moments and those who knew Jennie are saying that they hit the mark.”

He went on to praise the relationship that Jennifer had with her sons and her close friends.

“Growing up, Mum’s habits and attitudes seemed perfectly normal and we counted ourselves very fortunate to have her, our friends were similarly fond of Jennie due to her fairly bohemian attitudes that were in contract with those of many others, including most of our friend’s parents,” he added. “She was very loyal to her sons and us to her.”