IN LIFE, JIMMY MCCONNELL was well known for his knack for fundraising, but even some of the mourners who attended his wake were taken aback by the $10 admission fee.
About 300 people filed into Mr. McConnell’s wake on Monday — just under half the population of his hometown of Georgetown, P.E.I.
“At one point, my sister and I, at the end we were counting it and my sister looked at me and she said, ‘Oh my goodness, this is terrible, we’re counting money over the top of him!’” said Barb Mazerolle, his niece. “And I said, ‘Don’t be so silly! He’d love this.’”
“When the funeral director said, ‘I can’t do that, Jimmy,’ he said, ‘Fine. Well, I’ll take my business elsewhere.’”
Check out the full story here, since it appeared on the front page of the National Post. This story was tricky to get done, and I don’t think I appreciated how bizarre it was until after I wrote it. One commenter on the Post website had it right: “Wish I met Jimmy….sounds like one of a kind.”
Michael Fraiman 