Grandma loved her family almost as much as Budweiser and ingrown toenails, obituary says
Jan Lois Lynch was a mother of four sons — one of them “turned out OK” — and a grandma to eight children, according to an obituary written by her loving family members.
She loved those grandchildren “more than anything else in the world.” Well, with only 24 exceptions, that is, according to the obituary published in the Evansville Courier & Press on Oct. 28. Lynch was 75 and living in Evansville, Indiana, when she died on Oct. 18.
Those 24 exceptions include, in order of most love to not-as-much love, the “New England Patriots, the Boston Red Sox, Tom Brady, cold Budweiser, room temperature Budweiser, cigarettes, dogs, mopeds, clam chowder, boating, fishing, Florida, the Atlantic Ocean, grouper sandwiches, adventures, road trips, the beach, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, fall foliage, airplane food, ingrown toenails, the OJ chase, and the OJ trial.”
Lynch was a Boston native, proven by her love for the Red Sox.
And while it may seem like a surprise that she’d love a room-temperature Budweiser and an ingrown toenail more than her family, there could be a good reason for that.
“Of course, we were all little hellions, running around terrorizing the neighborhood,” her son, Greg Patterson, said, according to the Courier & Press. “She definitely had her hands full raising us ... Her life wasn’t easy, but everything she did, she did it with a laugh and a smile.”
Patterson told the Boston Globe that his family sat down to write the obituary together.
“We were each telling stories, and we came up with the idea that we just have to write a remembrance of her that she would have enjoyed; something she would have gotten the most enjoyment from,” Patterson said, according to the Globe. “And it just didn’t stop. It practically wrote itself. It was a total collaboration — everything in there was 100 percent true and just made us laugh, and we know it would have made her laugh, too.”
While the obituary doesn’t say which of her four sons “turned out OK,” it does mention that Lynch raised all four while working two to three jobs at a time, and she always put her children first.
“It’s still unclear who her favorite son was,” the obituary says, “thus the final ruling must be litigated in family court…or at a bar.”
Prior to Lynch’s death, she had been diagnosed with ”extreme stubbornness” and of being an “arm chair quarterback,” according to the obituary. She also had advanced heart disease and cystic fibrosis.
“Jan will be missed dearly by all who knew her. She was an incredible woman,” her family wrote. “She had an unparalleled zest for life and an infectious laugh that thankfully was passed down to her sons and their children.”
Patterson told KTRK that “the joy people got from reading that obituary is the best honor we could have for a mom that brought us so much joy and laughter in our lives.”
The family will be “following her wishes” by not holding a funeral service for Lynch.
“However, well-wishers are encouraged to write a note of farewell on a Budweiser can and drink it in her honor,” the obituary says. “And remember to live life to the fullest and laugh, laugh, and then laugh some more.”