An abusive mother received a scathing obituary, which has been pulled from the Reno Gazette-Journal, after the publisher discovered that the legacy statements presented described her as someone who led an "evil and violent life," UPI reported Thursday.
The children of the abusive mother named Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick wrote a scathing obituary for her - after she died in a Reno nursing home due to complications caused by bladder cancer - which was published in the local newspaper and rapidly received a wide range of critical feedback online.
"On behalf of her children who she 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," the scathing obituary reads.
Katherine Reddick, daughter of the abusive mother who died on Aug. 30 at the age of 78, said she had decided to share the story of the painful physical and mental abuse they received from Marianne after consulting with her brother, Patrick Reddick.
The two said that they grew up with four siblings in a Carson City orphanage after they were removed from the tutelage of their mother, and had been eventually estranged from her for over 30 years now.
Patrick clarified that they wrote the scathing obituary to highlight the issue of child abuse and not merely to put their mother to shame.
"People may see this as something we did to shame our mother," Patrick said. "But this is to bring shame to the issue of child abuse. I want every single person to realize this could be your obituary."
During a public testimony in the 1987 Nevada legislature, Patrick was quoted saying, "We were constantly physically, mentally abused even after being taken away and put in the children's home."
"Everything in there was completely true," Patrick told The Associated Press Thursday, even describing her mother as a "wicked, wicked, witch."
ABC News reported that six of Johnson-Reddick's eight kids were admitted to the Nevada Children's Home from 1963 to 1964 after enduring regular beating and other forms of abuse from their mother.
Meanwhile, Gazette-Journal publisher John F. Maher said in a statement that an anonymous writer submitted the obit to the paper's "self-service, online portal."
"We've removed the online listing of this obituary as we continue our review of the circumstances surrounding its placement," Maher said. "Once we've completed our review, we'll determine what, if any, further actions are required."
A copy of the scathing obituary from UPI can be read in full text below:
"Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and 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.
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.
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."
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