A beloved Pennsylvania man passed away after hitting the century mark, but not before leaving behind a heartwarming and hilarious reflection for his obituary.
Richard Ruth, who also went by Dick, took 25 years to write his obituary to make it perfect.
Each word showed the Jonestown resident’s quick wit and humor, his devotion to God and the love he had for his family and friends.
It was so clever that a post went viral on X on September 20 and was viewed by over 96,000 users.
The caption said: ‘This is the best Catholic obituary ever. I don’t know Richard, but I’m definitely praying for him after reading it. Hilarious.’
The obituary starts out on a banger saying Dick ‘croaked’ and that his soul is actually in purgatory rather than heaven ‘like everybody else does.’
It also mentions his now-deceased wife Dorothy who waited ’50 years for that perfect man to come along and she settled for him’ after the two got married during Dick’s 65th birthday.
Some more funny lines in the obituary read:
‘He failed miserably in his youthful dream to fill his “uncle” Babe Ruth’s baseball shoes.
‘Well known for his heart-felt rendition of “Danny Boy” which he plans to sing at his own funeral, in spite of the fact that his voice has deteriorated.
‘Dick was survived by neither a cat nor a dog. However, he was survived by a colony of squirrels and also by chipmunks who saw fit to claim his premises as their domain.
‘Dick and Dorothy had no children and surprisingly enough, no grandchildren. But they had this consolation: none of their children or grandchildren are going to Hell! Not everyone can say this with such certainty.’
His words and the virality he experience post-mortem brought a large number of people to his obituary page where they wrote about their admiration for a man they didn’t know.
One person wrote: ‘Didn’t know Dick, but I wish I had. What a great Catholic! RIP, Dick. Know that you made my day today.’
Dick was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery Mausoleum in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. His final request was for his friends to not smoke for a day instead of bringing flowers.
This obituary went viral three months after Vietnam veteran Col. Edward Thomas Ryan revealed a heartbreaking secret in his obituary.
Ryan died at the age of 85 in his home in Albany, New York, after living in nearby Rensselaer for most of his life, where he served as a firefighter.
In a final message to his loved ones and the world, published in the Albany Times Union, Ryan shared he had secretly lived as a gay man his entire life.