When writing her father's obituary, Halliea Milner decided to honor her dad with humor and honesty. The result? A hilarious and one-of-a-kind tribute to Kenneth "Kenne" Pluhar, Jr.
Obituaries can be tricky. Though we wish to fondly remember our lost loved ones, sometimes these eulogies can become formal and stuffy. Other times, they can be so sugar-coated, they don't actually sound like the person we knew at all!
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That's a mistake Halliea Milner wasn't going to make when writing her father's obituary. So, when Kenneth "Kenne" Pluhar, Jr. of Illinois, died at the age of 62 (on his birthday) after battling sepsis, his daughter set out to capture the true spirit of her dad. She kept it real (and sarcastic!) in this unique obituary. And though I don't personally know Kenne, I'd imagine he'd be pretty proud of his daughter and what she wrote.
Halliea Milner and Kenne Pluhar, Jr. were very close. But Halliea fully recognized not everyone was as familiar as she with his softer side.
"We were great friends," she recalled. "He was more stern with other people but a very caring father."
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Halliea didn't solely focus on her dad's best attributes. She made sure to include plenty of her father's quirks in the obituary, too.
"After 50 years of crap-starting with everyone and everything he could find to fight ... this hard as nails, redneck, SOB finally found something meaner and more stubborn than himself," she said of his death.
Halliea struck the perfect balance between paying tribute to her dad as well as roasting him.
"Like every sad cowboy song, he couldn’t stay married," she wrote, "but that didn’t keep him from trying. Again. And again. He had a total of 4 legal marriages (and divorces) and one common law marriage under his belt — that we know of."
As Kenne's only child, Halliea Milner went on to explain in her father's obituary how her dad was "extremely proud" of her, "mostly because she is almost as big of a pain" as he was.
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"From first to last," Halliea described how all of Kenne's siblings "loved him til the end, which is a miracle seeing as he took the idea of being 'hard to love' as a personal challenge."
She went on to say, "He is also survived by a plethora of nieces and nephews that he terrorized and traumatized in countless and original manners - truly, it was survivorship when it came to Uncle Kenne."
Halliea explained that, "Kenne was good at just about anything he tried to be good at and was wicked smart - but that didn't stop him from trying his best to do absolutely nothing except drink, smoke, and listen to music."
And as a special tribute to Kenneth "Kenne" Pluhar, Jr., his daughter explained the family would celebrate his life in a way he would have appreciated -- with a party:
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"Doors open at 5:30, there will be food & beer that you don't have to pay for (Kenne's favorite) at 6:00 and people will start talking crap about Kenne and his life around 7. Although there will be music and mayhem, don't plan to stay too long; we are going to kick you out at 10 pm."
You can read the full obituary for Kenneth "Kenne" Pluhar, Jr. HERE.
Relationships are complex, as are individual personalities. And in her father's obituary, Halliea penned a one-of-a-kind tribute, presenting an authentic version of who her dad was in life. It showed a man who wasn't perfect, but who was deeply loved and would be missed, despite his flaws. And ultimately, that's what love is all about.
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That's what the Father's love looks like for us. He sees us in both our best and worst moments. He knows us completely -- the good and the bad -- and loves us still!
"And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins. My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another." 1 John 4:9-11
h/t: People
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Halliea Milner
Mel is the senior writer for GodUpdates, finding, writing and sharing Christian, uplifting, and health-related stories from around the world. Mel has a passion for writing and graduated with a degree in English from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. When she’s not researching and writing stories, Mel is very active in her church. You can usually find Mel playing board games with her husband and two young girls, giving someone a hug, or hunting down a good cup of coffee!