Obituary of Child Abuser, Written by The Abused Children, Pulled from Newspaper

Ms. Reddick recently died and her obituary was put in the local paper by her eight (grown) children. However, the newspaper ended up pulling the obituary because it needs to be 'investigated'. Ms Reddick was the subject of a child abuse investigation during the time she was raising the children. Even though the children wanted to be free of this mother, the courts forced them back to live with her. Years later, the state senator introduced legislation that would allow children to terminate their relationships with biological parents. That legislation was inspired by this family.

Here is the obituary for the abusive mother -

Obituary of Marianne Theresa Johnson Reddick

Marianne Theresa John¬son- Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Sept. 30, 2013. She is sur¬vived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way pos¬sible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.

On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after¬life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.

Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgiveable, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a “humane society”. Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.

So what do you think?

- The adult children are getting revenge?
- The adult children are working out their issues and it'll take a long time?
- It's a proper obituary for an abusive person?
- The adult children have to forgive and raise themselves up higher than the woman.
- This obituary is a good thing because it'll shame other abusers into realizing how bad they are?
- Respect the dead because they can't defend themselves so drop the obituary?
- other???

Should the paper have pulled the obituary?
If the obituary is accurate, should they reinstate the obituary?

Ill go with other. For their closure.

reply to post by FlyersFan



Sometimes it's hard to form an opinion. A therapist once told me that's OK; it just means you're open-minded.

I don't think the obituary should have been pulled. On the other hand, I suppose the newspaper feared it could open them to some kind of liability. I presume a good lawyer could find something there to punish the newspaper for, and drag their name through the courts. I guess that's enough to make them **** themselves.

Flagged, but my star function apparently isn't working right now. Will come back later and try again....

reply to post by FlyersFan



wow, that was really ballsy of the family...I think the paper should reinstate the obit, really terrible things she did, and the court sent them back to her...I can see where the paper wanted to check it out to make sure it was legit ,though.



why do people like that get to live so long and good people die much younger,I know, no one ever said life was fair...

Either I don't know how to read a calender, or there's a big discrepancy in the date of death:

Marianne Theresa John¬son- Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Sept. 30, 2013.

Maybe they meant August 30th? o.O

reply to post by FlyersFan


Wow!!
Thats pretty heavy stuff.

I don't think the paper should have pulled it but in a politically correct world...I see why they did.
Investigations,lawyers...you never know who is going to get pissed off.

There is a saying I always keep in my head which applies to this.
You either LIVE your problems or you LIVE WITH them.

These people are living their problems and I think they should deal with things in a better form or else they will turn out like their mother....thats a pretty vindictive and mean thing to say publicly about their mother regardless if they are calling a spade a spade.

There is a time to be classy as well as a time to get over things and look for the more positive things in your life.

Nyiah
Maybe they meant August 30th? o.O

In the comments section at the link people said it was August 30th.
The Sept 30 is a typo.

I think the children are emulating their parent in a way. They're crybaby-ing about their troubled past- and externalizing it as well. Why bother? If they are, indeed finally at peace and have some closure, couldn't they just leave it alone and get on with their lives?

Seems petty to me...and childish.

I can't pretend to know what they went through nor what emotional injuries they sustained. They have a need to 'hit back' because they were physically and emotionally beaten for years and years by the one person who was supposed to love them above all else on this planet. There are unresolved issues. Forgiveness sometimes isn't given easily.

As for the obituary .. I don't know. The long standing tradition in this country is that you don't speak ill of the dead because they can't defend themselves. But of course, that's only 'good mannered tradition' ... which really doesn't mean anything.

I'll be interested to see where this goes ....

The mother sounds like a monster.
If so, she deserves to have her name dragged through the mud.

What a sad story. I'm hoping that once the paper looks into the issue they'll put the obit back in, although I don't know how long obits usually stay in a paper in the first place. If this woman abused her children, and it appears there is no argument that she didn't, I don't find anything wrong with the obit. It's not as if they submitted an extremely aggressive hate filled rant against their mother, they just laid out her crimes and basically said the world is better of without her. Harsh, but very justified.

I can imagine the anger that her children feel. Not only were they betrayed by their mother, the one person in the world that every child should know loves and cares for them above all else, but they were also betrayed by the state. Hopefully putting the obit out there allowed these people some kind of closure, hopefully it will be the nail in the coffin on that chapter in their lives.

I think as a society we need to very strongly shun sexual abusers, and putting a negative obit in the paper is an excellent way to do that. People need to abandon these type of people, so that they know they will loose every last friend and family member they have. It disgusts me to see pedos and such having friends and family that still associate with them. Even in death your crimes will not be ignored, you will always be remembered as a monster, as a horrible shell of a human.

reply to post by FlyersFan


As a victim of pretty prolific child abuse that bled into adulthood, I can understand their sentiment. Oftentimes, the most effective, manipulative and prolific of abusers will be extraordinarily cautious in how the general public perceives them. Their maintenance of a seemingly impeccable "outside face" tends to be double damaging to the victims of such individuals as it undermines external support through governmental sources of help to even close friends. My mother would slam me against the wall and strangle me; however, her behavior when outsiders were around was always gracious and charming. I had more than few friends question the validity of what I described of my home life because my mother seemed so nice.

Destruction of that public persona for all time in a public manner via the obituary is, from my point of view, absolutely closure. I think it should be reinstated in the paper. What is the woman going to do? Sue from beyond the grave? She can't touch them now so I say let them have their victory. I actually really like the idea and I'll be keeping it in mind for future use.

I can whole heartily relate to how these children feel. I and my other two sisters were raised by a physically and verbally abusive mother and our oldest sister. I can understand the hate these kids are feeling. It affects you emotionally for the rest of your life. I and my other two sisters, had to distance ourselves from my mother and eldest sister for the last 20 years. We refused to have our children witness the chronic verbal and physical abuse both my mother and eldest sister continued to inflict even into our adult years. They both destroyed my mother's side of the family. It was like having two abusive mothers.

My dad passed away when I was two, so we didn't have a father figure to protect us from the constant abuse. We had to fend for ourselves and tried to protect each other from being beaten like a rug. There were many days that as young children we would sit on our stairs and ball our eyes out because of all the physical and verbal fighting. I used to play outside from the time I got home from school, until the sun went down just to escape from being in our abusive home

My mother is still living at the age of 92 and my eldest sister is now 65. Both of them now have dementia and are living the last years of their life alone and separated from each other. "You reap what you sow."

I feel bad for those children, and don't feel the obituary should have been pulled. Most people who are abusive their entire life, convey a whole different personality when they're in public. Most people who knew my mother always would say she was a sweet lady. We would always go along with it, but inside we would be saying to ourselves, "If only you knew what my mother was really like."

If these children needed to do this to find closure, so be it. I know when my mother and sister pass, it will be a private funeral for immediate family members only. We don't want to put on a fake grieving face when it really will be a total relief for all of us.

Hushabye
They're crybaby-ing about their troubled past- and externalizing it as well. Seems petty to me...and childish.

There's nothing "petty" or "childish" about child abuse. There's nothing "crybaby-ing" about child abuse.

By the way, in case you didn't read anything in the OP, the family is trying to raise awareness to child abuse. Your comments towards child abuse are disturbing and disgusting.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Nice strawman there, dude.

In my opinion, it should not have been pulled. Those kids needed closure and had to wait until she died to get it. If she was an abuser like they say she was, and they of all people would know, then I think it's perfectly acceptable to have her kids tell the world how she really was. That obit, as bad as some might think it is, can't come near to the pain she put her kids through.

Her grave marker should be poop.

I'm glad they pulled it because

Children should respect their parents. Even if they are bad parents. The bible puts it like this Honor your mother and father. Yeah.. these kids are going to hell for this LOL.

We don't know any of the truth of this matter. She was investigated - what was the findings? Apparently she didn't serve jail time so they found nothing.

Obits are supposed to help folks remember the good things in a persons life and keeping this obit in the paper would encourage other adult CHILDREN to again act like spoiled brats and cause strife and resentment between other family members. You can't have family feuds because some smart alec adult children are mouthing off in public. That's just not right.

JohnPhoenix
I'm glad they pulled it because

Children should respect their parents. Even if they are bad parents. The bible puts it like this Honor your mother and father. Yeah.. these kids are going to hell for this LOL.

We don't know any of the truth of this matter. She was investigated - what was the findings? Apparently she didn't serve jail time so they found nothing.

Obits are supposed to help folks remember the good things in a persons life and keeping this obit in the paper would encourage other adult CHILDREN to again act like spoiled brats and cause strife and resentment between other family members. You can't have family feuds because some smart alec adult children are mouthing off in public. That's just not right.

edit on 12-9-2013 by JohnPhoenix because: sp

You must be joking. The bible says a lot of things, --.
Do you really think their mother respected her children? If she did, she wouldn't have abused them
like she did.

About obits. Maybe there isn't anything nice at all about a person, so why the hell lie and make pretend that she was a wonderful lady. Remember that bible also says something about not lying, doesn't it?

Spoiled kids? Smart aleck kids? Gimme a break.

I agree. I vote "other" because honestly, they deserved the opportunity to say their piece. They asked for the right to be happy when they were kids, they were denied it, and this was their moment to make a very poignant point. Maybe someone will actually listen now. This is neither the first nor the last time something like this has happened with children in less-than-suitable homes, and people need to start taking the matter a lot more seriously - especially the people we trust with getting these issues resolved right now. I was fortunate enough to be a child whose case worker cared enough to jump right on top of the ball when I needed it.

I was lucky. Most aren't.