A “scathing obituary” was submitted on Tuesday to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The obituary was written by Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick’s oldest children, and has gone viral, shocking everyone who reads it.
The obituary begins by saying: “Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.”
The obituary continues with her children saying that they are “celebrating her passing”. “On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.”
Reddick’s children close the obituary by saying: “Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgiveable, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a “humane society.” Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.”
The Reddick children said that they wanted to write the obituary to bring awareness to the severity of child abuse. Patrick Reddick, the second oldest child said during a phone interview: “People may see this as something we did to shame our mother. But this is to bring shame to the issue of child abuse. I want every single person to realize this could be your obituary.” “The things she did to us were horrible,“ Katherine Reddick said. “But it’s still happening to kids every day.”
John F. Maher, the Gazette-Journal’s publisher made a statement in response to the publishing of the obituary.
The obituary you reference was a paid placement that was submitted via our self-service, online portal. It appeared in today’s Reno Gazette-Journal and also online. From the text of the obituary, it is clear that the date of death is inaccurate. The Washoe County Public Guardian’s office has confirmed that Marianne Theresa Johnson did, indeed, recently pass away. We’ve removed the online listing of this obituary as we continue our review of the circumstances surrounding its placement. Once we’ve completed our review, we’ll determine what, if any, further actions are required.
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