Woman chooses death over voting for Trump or Clinton
Mary Anne Noland left life much like she lived it: with humor.
When the 68-year-old died Sunday, her obituary joked that “faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God.”
It made no other mention of politics, describing Noland, a longtime nurse and resident of Virginia, as “a faithful child of God” and devoted family member. But a comment on the obituary online suggested the opening zinger, however, was “pure Mary Anne.”
“The humor in the lead sentence of this memorial is pure Mary Anne,” wrote Dennis Wilder on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website. “I will always remember her smile and her laugh.”
Noland is survived by her husband, sister, two brothers and three sons. She also left ten grandchildren. The obituary, instead of flowers, requested donations be made to CARITAS, a local organization fighting homelessness and addiction.
It’s not the first time people have expressed a political standpoint in the Times-Dispatch’s obituary pages. Ernest Overbey Jr., who died in January at 65, was a lifelong Republican inspired by Trump’s rise. In the last line of his obit, his wife Deborah asked readers to “please vote for Donald Trump.”
Trump himself responded with gratitude, calling “Earnest” a great person on Twitter:
Thank you so much. Earnest must have been a great person. https://t.co/2DZp7YOadj pic.twitter.com/2YtLlEwceB
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2016
This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 7:16 AM with the headline "Woman chooses death over voting for Trump or Clinton."