Perhaps I'm just being petty but this is the obituary that appeared the Thursday after my grandmother died:

Cora Lemieux

GARDINER -- Cora Lemieux, 90, formerly of Highland Avenue, Gardiner, died Monday, Dec. 31, 2001, at Robinson's Health Care Facility, Gardiner.

She was born in Alna, Nov. 14, 1911, the daughter of Charles and Jannie (Carleton) Carleton.

Her husband, Gerard F. Lemieux, her daughters, Joan Irving and Mary Monroe, and her son, Gerard Lemieux, of Richmond, predeceased her.

Survivors include her brother, Charles Carleton and his wife, Donna, of Pittston; and several grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A graveside service will be held in the spring at the family lot in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Gardiner. Arrangements are under the care of Staples Funeral Home, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner.

I took it upon myself to write an obituary that is not only correct but I'm not using it to get my name in the paper. (I think you can guess who sent the one that did appear in the paper.)

That being said, here is the obituary that I would have given to the paper.

GARDINER, MAINE -- Cora Madeline Lemieux died December 31, at 11:10pm EST. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gerard, who died in 1947 and all of her children: Joan Geraldine Erving (1978,) Mary Monroe (1996,) and Gerard Lemieux (2000). She has left behind a bother and sister in law, 11 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

Cora was born November 14, 1911 in Alna, ME. She liked butterscotch sundaes and the color gray. Although she laughed until she coughed at Fawlty Towers and jokes about Tater Tots, she was put off by "foolishness." She was the type of person that loved every gift she ever received and had as many as she could on display around her home.

During the last years of her life Cora was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, two weeks before her death she had a stoke from which she never woke. Despite a large family that lived near her, she died alone.

Grave side services will take place in the spring.