NYC Man's Obit for His ‘Plus-Sized Jewish Lady Redneck' Mom Turns Global Sensation

Renay Mandel Corren's tribute, written by her NYC-based "favorite son, the gay one who writes catty obituaries," has become a global viral sensation

A photo of a candle and orchids for a memorial
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To hear her son tell it, Renay Corren was plus-sized. A redneck. A grifter. Larry King's ex-girlfriend?

And now, thanks to one of the most outlandish obituaries ever written, the entire Internet is mourning the Texas woman, who died in El Paso last Saturday at 84.

"(The) bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked it. This was not good news to Renay Mandel Corren's many surviving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, many of whom she even knew and, in her own way, loved," read the obituary in the Fayetteville Observer -- and that was perhaps the tamest part of the whole thing.

Her son Andy Corren, a New York City-based writer and talent manager, claimed credit for the opus, which was loving in its own particular way.

Renay Corren remembered: 'Zaftig good-time gal'

"Because she was my mother, the death of zaftig good-time gal Renay Corren at the impossible old age of 84 is newsworthy to me, and I treat it with the same respect and reverence she had for, well, nothing. A more disrespectful, trash-reading, talking and watching woman in NC, FL or TX was not to be found," he wrote.

"Hers was a bawdy, rowdy life lived large, broke and loud. We thought Renay could not be killed. God knows, people tried. A lot."

Corren wasn't available for an interview Thursday, but his words spoke for themselves. The obituary went viral almost immediately, with Google Trends showing searches for "Renay" exploding in popularity nationwide since it was published Wednesday morning.

"The family requests absolutely zero privacy or propriety, none what so ever, and in fact encourages you to spend some government money today on a 1-armed bandit, at the blackjack table or on a cheap cruise to find our inheritance. She spent it all, folks," the obit noted.

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