She was a woman who “grew great dope”, “never wanted to leave a party” and held John Howard in “particular contempt”.
This is how Jennifer Ann Kelly’s two sons Sean and Chris Kelly – and indeed the rest of the world – will remember their mother.
Affectionately known as Jennie, Sean and Chris’ mother died at age 88 last week. Her boys wrote an obituary for her, which was published in The Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend.
To be sure, it was an unconventional obituary, just like Jennie, it seems.
“Our wild and wayward mother died on 28 October 2024. She refused to say ‘passed’,” the obituary, which has now gone viral on social media, reads.
“We spend most of our lives compensating for our upbringing, said Jennie.”
From the message left behind by Sean and Chris, Jennie was a woman of passion and fierce determination.
“She believed that exposing youth to religion was a form of child abuse,” the obituary reads.
“It was impossible to watch the news in her presence due to her vocal outrage at the way the country is run.
“She held John Howard in particular contempt.”
Jennie also knew how to have a good time.
“Mum grew great dope, never wanted to leave a party and gave up champagne or gin frequently, but never simultaneously.”
In a hilarious tale told to The Sydney Morning Herald, Sean Kelly believed his mother once smuggled marijuana into Sydney in a wheelie suitcase. According to Sean, his mother had placed a macadamia nut in her shoe, which made it seem she struggled to walk – and struggled to carry her bags.
Her sons said their mother’s “rare attempts at ‘responsible’ parenting or grandparenting” – as a mother of two and a grandmother of three grandchildren – were “always touching”.
Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald recently, Sean Kelly said Jennie was a talented student at school, who won a scholarship to the University of Sydney, and worked at times as a journalist.
She ran away from her home in northern NSW in the mid-1950s and became involved with a group of intellectuals, trade unionists and “lefties” from USYD and UNSW.
Jennie was cremated last week, and a service will be held to remember her life in the coming days near her home in The Channon, where she lived most of her life.
“News on what’s next to follow,” the obituary reads. “Bring a shovel.”
‘Your mum sounds awesome.’
The hilariously touching obituary has gone viral on social media, with many commending Jennie’s sons on being upfront and candid about death.
“I can only hope that my children are loving enough to write me an obituary in the paper, let alone such an amusing one that conveys their mother’s spirit and personality so well,” one person wrote on Reddit in response to the obituary.
“Your mum sounds awesome. It was a great write up. I hope you’re being gentle with yourselves,” another said.
One Reddit user said the tribute in The Sydney Morning Herald has “reached thousands of people in the UK”.
Vale Jennifer. I didn’t know her, but we’ve lost a great woman.
byu/copacetic51 inaustralian
Sean Kelly replied to a post on Reddit sharing his obituary, saying the words in the tribute “fell out in moments” and “were written with nothing by affection”.
“Of course you can’t define anyone in a few sentences,” Sean wrote. “She was a fierce and loyal parent of two boys and we looked after her until the end.”
According to Sean, Jennie believed the former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard “licked his lips just before he told a lie”.