Lasalle, Illinois -- What happens after your only son dies suddenly? One father finds out that not only is he cut out of the obituary, but also on the death certificate.
In Lasalle, Illinois, George Harmon is grieving the loss of his only son., Kristopher. Kristopher Harmon died from an accidental gunshot wound while cleaning his gun on Friday, August 22 in his home in Council Bluff, Iowa.
Harmon received a call around 8:30 p.m that night from his daughter-in-law Ginger Harmon. "I was devastated, when she called I kept thinking that it was a joke. It could not have happened to my son." states Harmon. The following day was a blur, Harmon made calls to his family and kept in touch with Kristopher's widow, in order to have information on what happened and what the services were going to be. "Everything was a blur, I was numb, I just wanted it all to be a mistake."
Sunday brought more grief, when Harmon received one final call from Ginger regarding the obituary that was published in the August 24th Council Bluffs Non Pariel newspaper. "The call was to warn me that I was not mentioned in the obit, I was never mentioned as the father. Another man was." Apparently a man by the name of Keith Hadfield of Omaha, Nebraska was mentioned as the surviving father.
Upon finding this out and trying to contact the paper to no avail, he contacted the Cuttler-O'Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home also located in Council Bluffs, Iowa to find out who had wrote the obituary. "I was directed to the director, and he stated that he had wrote the obituary at the request of Kristopher Harmon's wife and mother Renee Lewis. The director was very apologetic but had stated that he can not change the information per that request, and that it did concern him that Keith Hadfield was named Kristopher's father on the death certificate."
Now it would seem that fathers don't have the right to mention in their kids Obituary all at the request of the mother. Where will this injustice end.
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