Son writes wildly funny obituary for his dad and the internet's loving it: 'He is God's problem now'

Obituaries mostly serve as an acknowledgment of loss and celebration of the deceased person's life. However, when Robert Adolph Boehm passed away, his son, Charles Boehm, chose to set aside the usual somber tone of obituaries and write something more lighthearted and memorable. Robert had recently passed away at the age of 74 after falling and hitting his head in his Clarendon, Texas, apartment. Since the 41-year-old Charles had never penned an obituary before, he decided to Google some ideas and stumbled upon an old obituary for Joe Heller on Legacy. 

"Joe Heller made his last undignified and largely irreverent gesture on September 8, 2019, signing off on a life, in his words, 'generally well-lived and with few regrets,'" the obituary for Heller read, per The Washington Post. "When the doctors confronted his daughters with the news last week that 'your father is a very sick man,' in unison they replied, 'you have no idea.'" This inspired Charles to craft a similarly unique obituary for his own father, as he too was an eccentric character.

"That sounds like something my dad would do," Charles told the outlet. "He made a lot of obscene gestures." As a result, the obituary written by him looked something like this: "Robert Adolph Boehm, in accordance with his lifelong dedication to his own personal brand of decorum, muttered his last unintelligible and likely unnecessary curse on October 6, 2024, shortly before tripping backward over 'some stupid thing' and hitting his head on the floor. Robert was born in Winters, TX, to the late Walter Boehm and Betty Smith on May 6, 1950, after which God immediately and thankfully broke the mold and attempted to cover up the evidence."

The son included some funny anecdotes from his dad's life, like the time Robert accidentally blew two holes in his car's dashboard after a shooting practice session. Robert was also a fashionable character, often sporting trendy moccasins, unconventional hats, and bold, mismatched colors in his shirts and pants. "We have all done our best to enjoy/weather Robert's antics up to this point, but he is God's problem now," Charles wrote at the end of the obituary, inviting funeral attendees to wear whatever outdated or inappropriate attire they preferred. He sent the obituary to Robertson Funeral Directors, the Clarendon mortuary that was handling his dad's cremation. Chuck Robertson, the mortuary owner, started chuckling when he read the obituary.

Robertson shared Boehm's note on the mortuary's Facebook page, where it reached a wider audience. Charles further told the news outlet that his father was a jolly fellow, but he had struggled after the death of his wife, Dianne, in February 2024. "When I tried to get him some mental health help, he admitted to me he was scared and wanted me there with him," he revealed. "We all visited him when we could, and the good people of Clarendon looked in on him and helped him out a lot. But it was hard for him looking at my mom's empty chair, and I'm 600 miles away." Robert worked various jobs to support his family before eventually settling into a career as a truck driver.

"For a while, my parents were team drivers, and for at least a year or two, I actually lived on the truck with them," the son mentioned. "I got to see a lot of stuff. I read hundreds of books, and I learned how to sleep in a car anywhere in the Lower 48." Charles's family and friends posted pictures of Robert on the Dignity Memorial site too. "I'd have to say if I want anything to come from all of this, it's for people everywhere to support the mental health of people in little rural towns," he said. "They go there to retire, then when they're old, their kids scatter and they end up alone. A lot of people slip through the cracks. There are people all over the country like my dad. We need to look after them."