Son Wrote Hilarious Obituary So Dad Wouldn't Be 'Forgotten,' Instead It Went Viral and Made Millions Smile

Mar. 15, 2025

Robert Boehm.Photo:Dignity Memorial

Dignity Memorial

Robert, a truck driver, died at the age of 74 in Clarendon, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 6. Rather than beginning theobituarywith a description of Robert as a loving husband or great father, Charles speculated what his dad’s last words might have been.

“Robert Adolph Boehm, in accordance with his lifelong dedication to his own personal brand of decorum, muttered his last unintelligible and likely unnecessary curse on October 6, 2024, shortly before tripping backward over ‘some stupid bleeping thing’ and hitting his head on the floor," the obit read.

Other memorable moments from the unique tribute was Charles writing of his father’s birth in 1950, “God immediately and thankfully broke the mold and attempted to cover up the evidence." He also joked that his dad impregnated his wife Dianne three times from the late ‘60s to early ‘70s to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War.

Charles also paid tribute to Dianne, who died in February, describing her as “a beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother who touched the lives of those around her with her unwavering love and quiet strength." But he also jokingly wrote that Dianne’s death was God’s way of showing mercy in “getting her the heck out of there for some well-earned peace and quiet” after her decades-long marriage to Robert and for putting up with his quirks.

“We have all done our best to enjoy/weather Robert’s antics up to this point, but he is God’s problem now,” Charles added.

Charles previously toldThe Washington Postthat his father had been struggling following the death of his wife of over 50 years, and that the “good people of Clarendon looked in on him and helped him out a lot.”

Speaking with PEOPLE, he says the obituary was intended to ease his pain following the loss of his dad.

“I was sad that my father was going to be forgotten and that my parents’ small life would get packed up into my trailer and that would be the end of it everywhere but inside my own mind,” he says, adding that he also hoped the obituary would “make a handful of people in a town of 2,000 smile instead of frown.”

But, he adds, “it’s probably done that for 2 million at this point.”

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As for going viral, Charles says that his own kids have been making fun of him for being “internet famous.”

“If the GoFundMe to pay for my dad’s funeral does not pan out,” Charles says, “they told me to release a line of Robert Boehm-branded harmonicas and become the nextHawk Tuah,” he jokes. “It has all been like a crazy dream to me, but I am glad for the distraction that it has brought me.”

source: people.com