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Grandmother’s Obituary Reads “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” At Her Request

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Loving grandmother, wife, and Wizard of Oz fan Johanna R. Scarpitti had some sweetly unique requests for how she be remembered.

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Readers of Delaware’s The News Journal might have been alarmed last Wednesday to see an obituary with the opening sentence “ding dong the witch is dead,” but the potentially scathing quote was actually a beautiful tribute. Scarpitti and her youngest daughter Assunta Lucy shared a love for the classic film, and Lucy told Delaware Online that her mother made her promise to include the famous line.

That was something between us and there was nothing that was going to stop me. Even if I ended up getting bad reports and people going against me, it had nothing to do with them. This is something she wanted me to do so I did it.

The grandmother also requested that her body be dressed all in black, with red and white striped stockings and red ruby slippers. I’m sure many of our readers know what it’s like to care about a story or fandom as intently as Scarpitti obviously did — here’s to her family’s beautiful way of commemorating her life.

(via Jezebel)

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