Jay Dehmalo and his sister Gina saw their mother’s passing as an opportunity to air the anger they felt toward her.
The obituary they wrote following her death at the age of 80 started as an ordinary one, revealing information of her place of birth. They moved on adding that she married their father, Dennis Dehmalo and had them.
But then, the following lines revealed a painful truth that neither Jay nor Gina could overcome throughout the years.
“In 1962 she became pregnant by her husband’s brother Lyle Dehmlow and moved to California,” the death notice read. “She abandoned her children, Gina and Jay who were then raised by her parents in Clements, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schunk.”
The obituary, that was accompanied by a photo of Dehmlow and was published in the Redwood Falls Gazette, her hometown newspaper, further read, “She passed away on May 31, 2018 in Springfield and will now face judgement. She will not be missed by Gina and Jay, and they understand that this world is a better place without her.”
Once the obituary went viral, Jay spoke to the Daily Mail and revealed that he and his sister did had reservations about what they included in it, but eventually decided to publish it because they wanted the truth revealed and get the last word.
“I remember she came home twice and on one occasion she was showing pictures of her and her kids playing cards, drinking beers…,” Jay told Daily Mail.
“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.”
The Redwood Falls Gazette removed the obituary after it gained attention online and was re-shared by other news outlets.
The newspaper’s founder and CEO said it was not illegal to publish the obituary regardless of its content, adding that the content standards of their newspaper partners are high so they did revise the obituary and eventually removed it from their website, but until that point, it had already spread all around the social media.
Some family members criticized the brother and sister for writing such things for their late mother, but they said they don’t regret it and would do it again.
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