Wave Maker: Man Who Read Own Obit Dies

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Thursday, March 31, 2005

Man Who Read Own Obit Dies

I have to confess, I don't know if it is just that the obit writers at the Globe are this good, that so many cool people happen to have died at once, or that I am conflicted by another prominent death of this day, but I feel the need to provide some humor on the issue.

In a classic example of "life imitates art," a man who read his own obituary year ago (finally) died. Here's writer Tom Long's opening:

"Milton Green, a former world-record hurdler who boycotted the
1936 Olympics in Berlin, has died.

Really."

Isn't that great?

It goes on:

Mr. Green, 91, whose obituary was mistakenly published in the Globe and many
other newspapers last August because the Associated Press mistook him for
another man with the same name, died Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla...
...Mr. Green was more amused than upset when the obituary was published. He joined
the short list of those able to read about their own demise, including Mark
Twain, who famously reported that the rumors of his death had been greatly
exaggerated...

...''He thought it was absolutely hysterical. He couldn't stop laughing,' said Mr.
Green's daughter Patricia Dunn of Needham."
Man laughed at his own obituary, then lived to be 91.

Posted by: Wave Maker / 2:06 PM/ |