Comments:  It's unclear whether this death notice ever actually appeared in print, but it was indeed published on Legacy.com, a Website that hosts the online obituary sections of affiliated newspapers, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It has caused quite a stir, circulating throughout the U.S. via forwarded email and inspiring like-minded recipients to contribute to Democratic presidential campaigns in Gertrude M. Jones' name. Former General Wesley Clark has toted up 15 such donations in Montana alone, according to an Associated Press report.

Oddly enough, a different death notice for Gertrude M. Jones making no mention of President G.W. Bush at all — this one attributed to the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, where Jones was laid to rest — appeared a month earlier on August 27, two days after her death. It specified that memorial gifts be sent to the American Cancer Society.

Lolis Elie of the Times-Picayune spoke with Melba Kovalak, one of Gertrude Jones' daughters, who confirmed that the deceased was a lifelong Democrat who, though she didn't exactly hate George W. Bush, felt he "probably wasn't up to speed for being a president." Kovalak seems to think the anti-Bush memorial request was indeed instigated by Jones herself, who spent the last year of her life in several different hospitals and nursing homes. "I think she heard about it as an obituary in one of those places," she told Elie. Which still doesn't explain the tardiness of the October 2 death notice, nor the inconsistencies between it and the August 27 version.

One possible explanation is that the two notices were placed at different times by different family members who didn't consult one another (or perhaps even disagreed) on the details.

Jon Donley, editor of Nola.com, the Web edition of the Times-Picayune, stresses the point that strictly speaking both items are death notices, not obituaries — the difference being that obituaries are composed and fact-checked by newspaper staff, while death notices are paid listings similar to classified ads and "can say pretty much whatever people want [them] to say."

Sources and further reading:

Gertrude M. Jones - August 27 Death Notice
As published on Legacy.com (via Google cache)

Gertrude M. Jones - October 2 Death Notice
As published on Legacy.com

Anti-Bush Obit Draws Funds to Democrats
Associated Press, 8 November 2003

Dying Wish Seeks Bush's 2004 Defeat
New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10 November 2003

Last updated: 11/11/03