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New Trend: Obituaries That Are Irreverent, Political, Even Brash

Parting Shots

(CBS) -- From beyond the grave, people are taking jabs at politicians and sports teams in their obituaries.

Chicago Sun-Times obituary writer Maureen O'Donnell says there's been a bit of a culture shift in what appears in the obit section.

A death notice for a New Jersey woman last August told people "in lieu of flowers, please do not vote for Hillary Clinton."

Other dearly departed people have made similar pitches, regarding Clinton or Donald Trump.

A Northbrook woman, Elizabeth Porter Bowman, who died last month, said she was "a lifelong fan of the Cubs, Blackhawks and Bears (except Jay Cutler)."

O'Donnell says people are getting creative with obituaries and death notices, sharing details that were once taboo. One woman even appeared to air her family's dirty laundry.

(Note: Death notices are written by family members, who pay to have them published; obits are free, typically brief, and compiled by the newspaper in which they appear.)

O'Donnell says we could be seeing more of it.

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