A twaddle on the Twaddles…

Our Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus (2002 edition) offer this as the definition of the word “twaddle:”

“n. {prob. var. of TATTLE} foolish empty talk or writing. nonsense”

For the last several weeks, our local newspaper has been publishing daily separate obituaries for a Henry J. Twaddle and Linda M. Twaddle. The obituaries are always published adjacent to each other.

Here is the most recent example:

As you can see, Henry died almost two years ago and Linda died in June.

Although the two obituaries list Las Cruces, there is no confirmation that their deaths actually occurred here. We don’t know if Linda was Henry’s wife, a sister, or even related. We don’t know where they were born, if they had any surviving relatives and there is no information about any kind of funeral service or memorial services. Both separate obituaries have the same language that the two “will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by all who knew him (or her).” There are no pictures of either person.

I looked up Henry J. Twaddle on Google and only found his obituary in the local paper. There was a Henry (no middle initial) Twaddle who died in 1985 in New Jersey and there was famous Army Major General named Harry L. Twaddle, but that’s as close as I could get. The comment board in our newspaper about on local deaths had no postings for Henry J. Twaddle.

A Goggle search of Linda M. Twaddle reveals nothing but the terse local obituary as well. There was a Linda M. Twaddle of England who died in March of this year, but she was 50 years old.

So the short recurring obituaries are a complete mystery and I’ve twaddled about the subject as much as I can. I will keep watching for their obituaries on a daily basis, and if something new shows up, I’ll share it.