AP Obit

Most of the obituaries that appear in the NYT as tribute, or news/editorial obits come with a byline. The Times can sometimes have 5-6 of these obits on a given day, all bylined by someone different; occasionally, one person does double duty and they have two bylines.

AP, Associated Press obits are not often seen on the NYT obituary page. Aside from not having a byline, you can immediately tell the difference in how they're written. They stick to a formula: deceased did this, born there, parents were so-and-so, survived by. They're informative, but dry a toast.

And so it went with Mari Hulman George, 83 Speedway Leader, the woman who intoned "Gentleman start your engines" at the start of the Indy 500. Not being a race car fan I never knew there was a woman who did this sort of thing, as her long-time association with racing is told. She was the daughter of Anton (Tony) Hulman Jr. who purchased the the Indy Speedway in 1945 and saved it from being demolished. She was born to the engine's roar.

"Ms. Hulman George's son Tony is the current chairman of the speedway.

In addition to him, she is survived by three daughters, Nancy and Josie George and Kathi George-Conforti; a stepdaughter, Carolyn Coffey; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren and her longtime companion, Guy M. Trollinger, known as Lum..."

It's these parts, whether in a bylined obit or news service obit that I tend to gloss over and look not at the names but rather see how many generations they are survived by. Naturally, the older the subject, the greater the chance they will have great-grandchildren. On only a few occasions have I ever read that the deceased has great-great-grandchildren.

The text drones on: "Mr. Trollinger shot and killed her husband Elmer in 1976 in what newspapers at the time described as a 'love triangle shooting.' A grand jury found it was justifiable homicide."

WHAT! WTF! That wasn't in the lede, or anywhere near it.

The next three paragraphs give us the details: Ms. Hulman would describe Mr. Trollinger as her boyfriend. After Ms. Hulman George filed for divorce...her husband Elmer broke into Mr. Trollinger's home and confronted him..gunfire erupted...Elmer was armed with a handgun and was mortally wounded by five shots from a .22-caliber rifle...the grand jury decided that Mr. Trollinger had shot Elmer in self-defense and the charges were dropped.

Never underestimate what you might read about in an obituary just because there is no byline.

(The above photo that accompanies Ms. Hulman's NYT obit shows her in 2009 at the Indy Speedway starting that year's race.)

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