ALTON, Ill. (KTVI) – An obituary roasting an Alton, Illinois man is getting a lot of positive attention online.
Kenne Pluhar, 62, passed away on his birthday, March 2, 2023. His daughter, Halliea Milner, told Nexstar’s KTVI it took 45 minutes to write a very honest, touching, and hilarious memorial for her father. Many people on Reddit say they wish more obituaries were like this.
Milner begins the obituary with this line:
“Kenne died in ICU at St Anthony’s after losing a battle with sepsis – at the age of 62, after 50 years of crap – starting with everyone and everything he could find to fight in Alton, IL, this hard as nails, redneck, SOB finally found something meaner and more stubborn than himself.”
The obituary continued:
“Like any good card-carrying, Ray Ban wearing, camo coverall lovin’ redneck, Kenne had 3 true loves: hunting, fishing, and drinking. He liked “both kinds of music – country AND western”. Like every sad cowboy song, he couldn’t stay married, 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.
His first marriage, to Tara (Gomez) Berry, produced his one and only child (again, that we know of), Halliea Milner, of whom he was extremely proud, mostly because she is almost as big of a pain in the a## as he was, and she kept the pain-in-the-a## line going by giving him his only grandchild, Sidnee Milner.”
The full obit ran in the Alton Telegraph on Monday, and a picture of it was also shared to the “Funny” sub-reddit. The post generated thousands of likes and comments. Many readers shared the same sentiment, “I fully enjoyed reading this beginning to end. Thanks for posting!!”
“Based on her description, I bet he would’ve been absolutely tickled with it. I’m sure very proud,” writes another Reddit commenter.
“The majority of the people understood that it came from a real place of love,” Milner said. She says one aunt is not a fan of it, however, despite her attempt to highlight her father’s “softer” side:
“He was preceded in death by his mother, Connie Mckinnon Donnelson, who, til the day he died, he called “his mommy” – proof positive that even the biggest (jerks) have a soft side, you just may have to dig deeper to find it. His father, Kenneth Joseph Pluhar, Sr, is still around, though, and was sure to teach Kenne the best ways to be emotionally unavailable and yet overly sensitive, all rolled into one. It’s a strong family trait passed down generation to generation.”
Kenne moved to Alton, Illinois during high school. He lived in the same house that he bought from his parents until he died.
Milner says she grew closer to her father as an adult. He started to get ill in January, and she came back to the St. Louis area to spend time at the hospital with him. She was with him as he took his last breath.
“He was a magnetic person,” said Milner. “I loved him dearly. My world is not the same without him.”
Honoring Pluhar in death as he would have wanted in life, a party has been planned for March 24 at the Woodriver Moose Lodge.
“There will be food & beer that you don’t have to pay for (Kenne’s favorite)” the obit reads. “Don’t plan to stay too long; we are going to kick you out at 10 p.m. Save your money – please don’t send anything … take a trip to the Dollar Store in Kenne’s honor instead.”