In lieu of flowers: Families reveal political hopes in obits

RICHMOND, Va. — In a heated election season filled with seemingly endless political bickering, some among the dearly departed are getting the last word, leaving behind their requests for voters this fall.

Obituaries published during the past several months have included commentary from both sides of the political spectrum, with families feeling it fitting to include their loved ones’ final political wishes.

Last week in Alabama, relatives of Katherine Michelle Hinds, 34, published an obituary that included, “In lieu of flowers, do not vote for Donald Trump.”

Hinds’ mother, Susan Pool, said her daughter did not like the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and feared for the future for her three young children if he’s elected. Pool never talked to her daughter about the possibility of including an anti-Trump message in her obituary, she said, but knows she would have liked it.

Just before dying earlier this month, Carl Crocetti, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, told his companion he wanted Donald Trump to be president. The Enterprise of Brockton, Massachusetts, reported his family tried to honor that wish by wrapping up his obituary with the request “that people elect NOT to vote for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election in November.”

The family of Mary Anne Alfriend Noland told WWBT-TV in Richmond, Virginia, that they used the campaign to pass along her sense of humor, by suggesting death may be preferable to choosing sides this fall.

Her obituary, published Monday, reads, “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.”

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