Renay Mandel Corren – a “bawdy, fertile, red-headed matriarch” and “talented and gregarious grifter” – has “kicked it,” the obituary declared.
According to The Guardian, the obituary listed Renay’s ’achievements’, such as the fact that she didn’t cook or clean, and she apparently lied a lot. Renay was also lousy with money. Her hobbies included “pier fishing, rolling joints and buying dirty magazines”.
Furthermore, the memorial was not restricted to any denomination and was borderline ’disrespectful’.
“The family requests absolutely zero privacy or propriety, none whatsoever” – a stipulation that proved apt when the obituary went viral on Twitter, where thousands of readers proclaimed it a masterpiece.
Andy Corren, who is the author and also Renay’s “favourite son”, as described in the obituary, told the Daily Mail “I just thought a few friends would read it.”
As reported in The Guardian, Coren, 52 is the gay one who writes catty obituaries in his spare time. He wrote the obituary while Renay was still alive, by her side, just before she died. A few passages were read aloud.
According to Coren, she took it well.
“She refused to indulge in any post-life planning. She only planned the day she was alive,” The Guardian quoted Coren as saying.
“I don’t have any interest in formats or straitjackets that deprive you of your humanity or seek to create a totally artificial whiteboard. Who needs a report card after you die?” he said.
He said he actually went easy on Renay’s life, for the protection of those living and dead.
RIP RENAY MANDEL CORREN 10 MAY 1937 - 11 DEC 2021.
Do yourself a favor…https://t.co/KpFCqA1SBF pic.twitter.com/BrhRMdB0ZK
Coren was touched by how the readers responded to his mother’s obituary. The Covid-19 pandemic had got many people’s spirits down, “maybe we all needed a laugh, and a way to talk about death in a funny way”, he told The Guardian.
Coren is working on his next project. It’s called, “a redneck Less Than Zero”. “Shocker! It’s about me and my family,” he said.