A Maine woman decided to deal one final blow to her allegedly abusive mother after her death by writing a brutally candid obituary.
Following the death of Florence “Flo” Harrelson, 65, in February, her estranged daughter, Christina Novak, said she wrote the obituary after learning this month that her mother had died.
“(Harrelson) died without family by his side due to the burned bridges and the trail of destruction he left in his wake,” Vovak wrote in the obituary, published in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
The delay came about because Harrelson “did not want an obituary or for anyone, including family, to know that she died,” Novak wrote in the obituary, because “even in death, she wanted those she terrorized to continue living in fear and looking over her shoulders.”
“This is not so much an obituary as it is a public service announcement,” Novak wrote.
Maine resident Christina Novak wrote a brutal obituary for her own mother after hearing the news six months after her death, saying she “died without her family by her side.”
Novak alleged that her mother Florence ‘Flo’ Harrelson (pictured) abused her and said she had left “a trail of destruction in her wake”.
Despite the savage nature of the obituary she wrote about her own mother, Novak insisted on Bangor Daily News that she didn’t feel angry while writing it, and only felt relieved to be able to get her last thoughts off her chest.
“When I wrote it, I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t upset. I was actually sitting with a pen and paper and laughing to myself,” Novak said.
Novak also proudly shared the obituary on his Facebook page and accompanied an image of the text with the song “Ding dong, the witch is dead.”
He reportedly described his mother as an abusive and manipulative woman, and said he was not the only family member who felt relieved after her death.
In an earlier text exchange Novak shared on her Facebook purportedly sent by her mother, Harrelson is seen telling her daughter, “I don’t recognize mentally challenged, lazy, lying people as grandchildren.”
Novak said his mother had previously served in the Marines and was a guard at Maine State Prison, and although she was diagnosed with cancer, he heard Harrelson died of heart failure.
While a prison guard, Harrelson was sued by an inmate who alleged that she and other officers attempted to hire another inmate to assault him.
The mother and daughter had been estranged for more than a decade, and Vovak said she only learned of Harrelson’s death six months after it happened.
He said he decided to write the scathing obituary because he wished he had known sooner, mainly because it could have avoided months of worrying that his mother might reappear in his life.
Despite the brutality of the obituary, Novak admitted: “When I wrote it, I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t furious. I was actually sitting with a pen and paper and laughing to myself.”
After beginning to write a traditional obituary about her mother’s life, Novak said she struggled to find positive words and instead detailed her numerous alleged mistakes.
In the end, however, he decided not to issue a lengthy rebuke and instead opted for a simpler public service announcement.
After finishing the four-sentence reprimand, Novak said he checked with several family members and the only change was that an older relative corrected his spelling mistakes, the Bangor Daily News reports.
She said the obituary cost her $86.13 – at $1.25 per word – which she said was worth it for the “priceless” entertainment it provided her.
A second, more glowing obituary for Harrelson also appeared online, though neither the author nor the authenticity of the obituary is clear.
The second obituary said Harrelson was “known for her warm smile and kind heart” and was “a pillar of strength and support to many in Maine.”
And while Novak said her mother’s reluctance to have an obituary was her attempt to torment her family one last time, the second obituary, she argued, “speaks volumes about the humble and selfless person she was.”
“She never sought recognition or praise for her good deeds, always putting others before herself. Her legacy will live on in the countless lives she touched and the memories she created with her loved ones,” the tribute concluded.
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