Obituaries ~~~ My DH --- coincidence

tallpines · #1 04/12/12, 03:54 PM

DH got to read his obituary in the newspaper.

Had to pinch himself to see if he was still alive.

My DH shares his name with only one other person in the whole USA...........
and that person lives/d 1200 miles from us.
No relation that we know of.

Imagine my DH's surprise when I showed him the obituary in Monday's local paper...... with HIS name!

Yes, the guy in N.J. has died...........
and his obit is published in a local Wisconsin newspaper!

Ohio dreamer · #2 04/12/12, 03:57 PM

So, was it done for your husband's benefit, so that he'd know he's the only one left?

HOTW · #3 04/12/12, 04:00 PM

How funny but WIERD!!!LOL

My DH shares a unique name as well and anyone who has the same last name is related to him! His Dad and him had the same first name but different middle names and my name is totally unique(punched it into oneof those sites-really wierd) and there are only about 585 people in theUSA with his last name and many of them I have in our geneological database!

tinknal · #4 04/12/12, 04:07 PM

I've only found about a half a dozen with my last name in the US, none share my first name. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on the planet with my first and last name.

Ann-NWIowa · #5 04/12/12, 04:17 PM

I got a hysterical phone call from dh's aunt -- why didn't you tell me dh was dead. Obit for same name, same age, different middle initial. The next year I got a call from the cemetery asking me to please take care of my dh's grave. I don't know how many people share the same name as dh, but that is the only other one I'm aware of. It is really a spooky feeling to read an obit for someone with the same name.

I'm also pretty sure no one else shares my name when you put in first, middle, maiden and married its just not common.

Macybaby · #6 04/12/12, 04:42 PM

It wasn't an Obit, but DH once got asked about his divorece that had a creditor announcement in the paper. Same town, same husband name, different wife name, but his co-workers didn't know my name. I had moved from WI to SD and he was still living in WI at the time. He just said "she's in SD and I'm in WI, what do you think?" and let them assume what they wanted.

When we first moved to the small town in WI, he got accused of trying to falsify info, as they KNEW who xxxx yyyy was, and HE was not that person. Then the State of WI transfered the title of our new truck to the other person and his wife, guess they didn't go farther than to match husband name and City and didn't worry that wife's name and address were different on the application. At least the other person knew about the new person with the same name, and brough the title to us. Always wonder what his wife may have thought to see a title for a brand new truck show up in the mail - maybe that contributed to the divorese a few years later!

tallpines · #7 04/12/12, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ohio dreamer

So, was it done for your husband's benefit, so that he'd know he's the only one left?

The dead man actually went to high school in Wisconsin and then left the state when he joined the Marines.

I suspect they posted his obit here to notify any old friends who may remember him.

Back in the late 1800's several cousins, all with our last name, came to America and settled in eastern Wisconsin.
So --- this man probably is a L-O-N-G distant cousin connected by someone over 100 years ago, but no one has followed the line of decendents.

Our last name is really rather common in that particular area.....lots of Dutchmen settled there.
It's just that the combined first and last name combination that makes it unique.

dragonjaze · #8 04/12/12, 07:08 PM

hope they said nice things about him

KnowOneSpecial · #9 04/12/12, 07:13 PM

My DH has a name that's been handed down for generations. They change the middle name so there's no "Jr.". We went back to the family cemetary once and laughed at how time went on the headstones got smaller and smaller-and how they never put the middle initial in there. Just a row of stones with DH's name on it. We guessed that they ran out of money as time went on!

I told my DH that it would be really convenient for me if he would be OK going just 4 feet down. He could have a huge stone and it wouldn't cost me a penny!

ELOCN · #10 04/13/12, 12:06 AM

Good Heavens!

SilverFlame819 · #11 04/13/12, 01:26 AM

I ID'd a guy today named Methulselah. I ID a LOT of people, that was a first for me!!

I asked him what he went by. "Junior" *lol* - I don't blame him!

indypartridge · #12 04/13/12, 05:09 AM

I stumbled across "my" obituary about a year ago - same first, middel and last name, only 3 years difference in age, both of us born/raised in Ohio. Weird.

Backfourty,MI. · #13 04/13/12, 06:06 AM

Did your hubby have hair standing up on the back of his neck while reading the obit? That would definately be weird reading an obit with your name at the top.

mountainlaurel · #14 04/13/12, 07:49 AM

In mine and dh's family we all use the same first names. We don't apparently know any other ones so we have to use the last names to know who we are talking about. His cousin married a lady with my first same, we live only 5miles apart and I named my son using dh's cousin's first name so we can be more confused and my other son is a third but the boy my inlaws adopted also had the same first name, so when they adopted him, of course they gave him our last name. So now there are 4 by the same name. My son gets called Third a lot. My dh is Jr. but a lot of people think my son is Jr. The adopted one makes it all the more fun.
Savvy? So if someone dies, we have to go on down the line by nicknames to help us know what is going on.

Karenrbw · #15 04/13/12, 09:39 AM

DH's grandmother died a couple of years ago. Imagine his grandfather's surprise when all the obituaries listed her as being predeceased by her loving husband, Charles. We got a few calls about that one. Distant family members were calling demanding to know when Charles died and why they didn't know. Grandpa said he knew he had been feeling bad lately, but not that bad.

We have two couples in our community with the same names - first and last for both spouses. And they aren't related. It makes things a little confusing when they both had kids in the local high school at the same time.

Billie in MO · #16 04/13/12, 09:39 AM

Has happened to my hubby, too. Years ago when we lived in the South (Biloxi, MS) we ran across an obit with Bill's name. Same time frame he ran into another person (alive) with his name, too. Both were of a different race. In doing genealogy research I ran across that some ancestors of his, who lived in Georgia, owned slaves. Since it was common practice back then to take the owner's name, I believe that this is what they did. Still, it was very weird.

SilverFlame819 · #17 04/13/12, 12:50 PM

Mountainlaurel, I know a guy who is "the third"... He goes by Tres.

He's not Spanish in the slightest, so most people assume he's saying "Trace", and write out his name that way... Until he explains that he's the third, but his grandpa uses his first name, and his dad uses his middle name, so he just made up his own name to avoid the confusion.

Bret · #18 04/13/12, 01:01 PM

Let's have a carry in dinnner for him, your husband, anyway. Long may he live.

mamita · #19 04/13/12, 01:20 PM

it happened to me many years ago before we were married. opened the newspaper, and there was a huge story of a deadly traffic accident with the deceased having my (now) hubby's name. it's not a common name. if you google it, only German people pop up. I FREAKED out, of course. obviously it was a great moment to find out it wasn't MY guy!!

Ohio dreamer · #20 04/13/12, 01:32 PM

I don't have to look far to find my name double. DH's brother married a girl with the same name as mine. The started dating 2 months after DH and I started. So I'm Jen and she's Jenn (she came to the family second, so she got 2 n's to make Christmas easier, lol)