Hilarious, Inappropriate Obituary Of A Late Connecticut Firefighter Goes Viral

The recent death of an 82-year-old Connecticut man has drawn global attention after his family honored him with a comically inappropriate obituary.

Connecticut’s Hartford Courant published Joe Heller's obituary Tuesday after his death on Sept.8. It was largely written by Heller’s youngest daughter, Monique Heller. The obituary has become a viral sensation for its vulgar language, irreverent humor, and loving reflection of the former firefighter and dog catcher’s life.

“I was writing it for his local cronies,” Monique Heller told the Courant. “Who would guess it would be trending on Twitter — and he doesn’t even know what Twitter is. I have people from Australia calling me. It’s insane.”

One of the first highlights is how much of a prankster Joe Heller was in his youth. It specifically mentioned “thwarting” people stealing his and his siblings’ lunches with chocolate cake laced with laxatives and meatloaf sandwiches made out of “excrement.” The obit touched on Joe Heller’s time in the U.S. Navy as part of a construction battalion, which he carried into his time home working in his local fire department and animal control.

The obituary also includes some grievances.

"Joe was a frequent shopper at the Essex Dump and he left his family with a house full of crap, 300 pounds of birdseed and dead houseplants that they have no idea what to do with."

It quickly became an online sensation, with people on Twitter sharing the obituary.

The sentiment expressed in the obituary carried over to Joe Heller’s wake Thursday, with attendees wearing inappropriate t-shirts at the family's encouragement. Patches were also shared that red “Centerbrook Pornographic Studios,” a fake business Joe Heller invented as a means to get a rise out of people.

“The most inappropriate guy with the biggest heart in the world,” Essex firefighter Ron Senn told the Courant.

The obituary has also made the rounds of media. Monique Heller told the New York Times that the obits "just resounds with people."

One letter to the Times read: "Joe clearly was a 'real mensch'! We need more persons like Joe to help us cope with the world. And clearly more than a little of Joe rubbed off on his daughter Monique to write this warm, heartfelt obituary about her father. This is humanity at its best."