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FEATURE

By Fred H. Olin, MD

My wife, Sondra, died earlier this year. This is not a search for to go call the florist. Later in the afternoon she approached us and
sympathy nor a paean to her…although I have had lots of the for- said she had followed up as we requested. She told us the florist had
mer and I could do the latter. Rather, it is a narrative about an oc- said they only had written what the customer ordered. A bit later
currence at her funeral. Everything below is true. I have anonymized she was back again and prefaced her story with, “I have never heard
it as much as I can. None of the initials are accurate, but all of the of anything like this happening before.”
narrative is. Here we go… The florist had called whomever had ordered the arrangement
Ten or 15 minutes before the ceremony at the funeral home was and was told the person named on the card as one of the be-
to start, my family and I were allowed into the chapel to see the reaved had told her supervisor at W.X.Y.Z (which proved to be a
setup, look at the flowers, read the cards, be told where we would very subspecialized clinic in the Medical Center area) that her
sit, etc. As we looked at the flower arrangements, several of which grandmother, Sondra Olin, had died, and she needed to be off
had been supplied by the mortuary, it was evident that, although we to grieve for Grandma. This was news to all of us, since neither
had requested that no flowers be sent, there were quite a few sent of my daughters have children, and Sondra and I had no knowl-
by friends, organizations we supported, etc. After a short while, one edge any grandchildren.
of my daughters said “Daddy, look at this!” She was holding the My older daughter looked at her younger sister and said, “Are you
card attached to one of the rather large, tall and very beautiful holding something back from us?” That actually got a laugh because
arrangements sitting on the floor near the head of the casket. of her severe expression and tone of voice.
I bent over to look at the card. The part facing outwards said: Like our funeral director, we didn’t quite know what to make of
this…so we kept the flowers. The next day I carried three or four
of the donated arrangements to Methodist Hospital, where Sondra
“DEAR FEMALE FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, had died, and asked the pastoral care people to use them as they
OUR THOGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU. saw fit.
As we had time to think about the whole event, my family and I
LOVE, had to give the perpetrator of this floral fiasco some points for orig-
W.X.Y.Z.” inality. However, we all pretty much agreed we hoped that the lady’s
employer had some strong words to say to her for lying and causing
The facing part of the quarter-folded card had my wife’s name them to spend a considerable sum for a really big, beautiful flower
and the name of the funeral home on it. When we unfolded it, there arrangement. We also wondered if she returned to work with a tan
was the name of the florist on one of the quadrants and the name after grieving in Port Aransas. Finally, as one of my daughters pon-
and phone number of a physician on the other. The doctor’s name dered the situation aloud as we left the funeral she said, “Things we
was vaguely familiar to me, however none of us knew anyone by do always seem to end with a joke.” I think my wife would have
the woman’s name to whom it was addressed. laughed.
We asked our funeral director if perhaps it belonged to another
family who also had a funeral that day? She said that there were no Dr. Fred Olin is a retired orthopedist and a member of the BCMS Publi-
pending services for anyone with that last name, but she volunteered cations Committee.

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