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Kansas Covid obituary excoriates mask deniers

Calling his death "political," one son's obituary for his father slammed mask-refusers.

A Kansas son's obituary paying tribute to his father who died of Covid-19 is going viral for excoriating mask refusers.

In the death notice, Courtney Farr, the son of the late Dr. Marvin J. Farr, who died December 1 at Park Lane Nursing Home in Scott City, Kansas, wrote that his father was "preceded in death by more than 260,000 Americans infected with Covid-19."

"Hope you're in as much peace now as you are in this picture," Courtney Farr wrote in a Facebook post about his father, Marvin.
"Hope you're in as much peace now as you are in this picture," Courtney Farr wrote in a Facebook post about his father, Marvin.via Facebook

Describing his late father as a man born into the Great Depression and having survived World War II amidst great sacrifice, Courtney Farr said Marvin "died in a world where many of his fellow Americans refuse to wear a piece of cloth on their face to protect one another."

"He died in a room not his own, being cared for by people dressed in confusing and frightening ways. He died with Covid-19, and his final days were harder, scarier and lonelier than necessary. He was not surrounded by friends and family."

In a Facebook post acknowledging the viral obituary, Courtney Farr said he is "honestly in shock" at how many had read his obituary: "Often when we experience loss, pain or trauma, we feel so alone," he wrote, "And there's such incredible power to learning that you are not, that someone else also knows."

Farr wrote that the response has been "vastly positive, but I have seen a few negative comments, including claims that I made my father's obituary political."

"Well, his death was political," Farr wrote. "He died in isolation with an infectious disease that is causing a national crisis. To pretend otherwise or to obfuscate is also a political decision."