Ugly obituary war breaks out after disowned son responds to family's glowing ... trends now
Timothy McLaughlin, 42, felt the need to respond write his ownt obituary for his father James J. Becker, 81, pictured, a retired Milford, Connecticut firefighter
A scathing obituary penned by a son who was disowned a decade earlier by his late firefighter father has been promptly removed from the internet.
The writer, Timothy McLaughlin, 42, felt the need to respond to an obituary for his father James J. Becker, 81, a retired Milford, Connecticut firefighter.
The tribute described Becker, who was a Jehovah's Witness, as a lover of his faith. Becker loved camping, road trips to Florida watching Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, it stated.
But there was one line in particular that McLaughlin took issue with: 'The quality many will most remember him fondly for though, was his love for people,' the family obituary stated.
McLaughlin, who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness faith but later left the faith, explained how he had been excluded and shunned by the family for ten years after he abandoned the religion.
He described feeling deeply hurt by being 'disfellowshipped' and estranged from his father since October 1, 2013 - so he decided to set the record straight.
Timothy McLaughlin, 42, left, is pictured alongside his husband, Joseph McLaughlin
McLaughlin's version of his father's obituary read in part, 'the previous obituary written by the family was highly misleading. It was accurate in saying that the part of James' life that he valued most was his religion as a Jehovah's Witness, but it failed to mention to what extent…this included disowning and shunning his adult son, Timothy, when he chose to leave the religion in October 2013.'
McLaughlin's obituary garnered attention on social media as he aimed to rectify what he saw as glaring omissions and misrepresentations in the family's initial tribute.
He emphasized how the family's obituary failed to acknowledge the extent of his father's disowning and shunning of him after he left the Jehovah's Witness faith which he describes as 'cult-like'.
McLaughlin said 'shunning' is required by the religion when officially 'disfellowshipped'.
But 24 hours later, the obituary had been pulled from the website.
Legacy, the platform through which he attempted to publish this obituary, above, pulled the obit citing references to family conflict and negative remarks about the deceased as reasons for pulling the obit
Legacy, the platform through which he attempted to publish it, cited references to family conflict and negative remarks about the deceased as reasons for pulling the obit.
The second obit was also supposed to appear in a Connecticut newspaper on Sunday, but that was later pulled.
McLaughlin appears to be at peace with the decision as he said everyone he wanted to see
