April 13, 2012

The Denver Post
The paid obituary for Michael “Flathead” Blanchard reads:

Weary of reading obituaries noting someone’s courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors’ orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died. …

So many of his childhood friends that weren’t killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.

The Denver Post called it “one of the most interesting obituaries” the paper has ever published and used it as an opportunity to ask people on Facebook, “When it’s time, do you want your friends and family to grieve, or laugh?”

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Steve Myers was the managing editor of Poynter.org until August 2012, when he became the deputy managing editor and senior staff writer for The Lens,…
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