Son's tribute to 'bawdy, fertile matriarch' goes viral

"The bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked it."

This is a line from an obituary to Renay Mandel Corren, a Texan woman who died on Saturday at the age of 84.

The tribute by her son, Andy, has taken social media by storm after it was published in The Fayetteville Observer.

The colourful piece says there will be "much mourning in the many glamourous locales she went bankrupt in".

This includes her hometown of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, where Corren "first fell in love with ham, and atheism," and Fayetteville and Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, where "Renay's dreams, credit rating and marriage are all buried".

Mr Corren writes that his mother's death is not good news for her "many surviving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, many of whom she even knew and, in her own way, loved".

He then lists a wide-range of anecdotes, but admits the accuracy of some of his mother's storytelling was questionable.

"She played cards like a shark, bowled and played cribbage like a pro, and laughed with the boys until the wee hours, long after the last pin dropped. At one point in the 1980's, Renay was the 11th or 12th-ranked woman in cribbage in America, and while that could be a lie, it sounds great in print," he writes.

"She also told us she came up with the name for Sunoco, and I choose to believe this, too. Yes, Renay lied a lot."

He lists his mother's best attributes as "dyeing her red roots, weekly manicures, dirty jokes, pier fishing, rolling joints and buying dirty magazines".

Mr Corren then says that he can't quite believe his mother had finally passed away.

"Renay has been toying with death for decades, but always beating it and running off in her silver Chevy Nova," he writes.

"Covid couldn't kill Renay. Neither could pneumonia twice, infections, blood clots, bad feet, breast cancer twice, two mastectomies, two recessions, multiple bankruptcies, marriage to a philandering Sergeant Major."

The 1,000 word tribute has been widely applauded in social media, with some stating they wish they had known Renay, known to her friends as Rosie.

Mr Corren ends by announcing there will be "a very disrespectful and totally non-denominational memorial" to his mother in May, most likely at a bowling alley.

"The family requests absolutely zero privacy or propriety, none what so ever, and in fact encourages you to spend some government money today on a one-armed bandit, at the blackjack table or on a cheap cruise to find our inheritance. She spent it all, folks. She left me nothing but these lousy memories."