The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 2GM 41

Wo r l d

It was, her son said, “a bawdy, rowdy life
lived large, broke and loud”. A life of
“dirty jokes, pier fishing, rolling joints”,
of “marriage to a philandering sergeant
major”, of “ham and atheism”.
Beyond her loving family and drink-
ing and cribbage buddies, the death of
Renay Mandel Corren at the age of 84
in El Paso, Texas, might have passed
unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Instead, her rollicking obituary last
week in a North Carolina newspaper
has gone viral, been hailed as a master-
piece and introduced the wider world to
the life, loves and bankruptcies of the
“bawdy, fertile” matriarch.
“A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck

A Christian charity has described how
12 of its missionaries escaped their kid-
nappers after two months in captivity.
The escapees, who included a baby
and three children, were found by locals
in a remote area of Haiti last Thursday.
They have since returned to the US.
According to the charity, the intrepid
dozen, after several failed escape at-
tempts, slipped past their guards on
Wednesday night and used the North
Star to navigate to safety.
“When they sensed the timing was
right, they found a way to open the door

that was closed and blocked, filed

silently to the path they had chosen to

follow and left the place where they

were held,” said Weston Showalter, a

spokesman for Christian Aid Minis-

tries. With the baby wrapped in cloth to

protect her from brambles, the party

walked ten miles to escape the kidnap-

pers, he added.

When they finally reached safety,

My redneck mom would have loved the tribute

United States
Hugh Tomlinson Washington

died in El Paso on Saturday,” the Fay-

etteville Observer announced,

throwing out the pious con-

ventions of small-town

obituaries. Over the

next 1,000 words,

Andy Corren — “her

favourite son, the gay

one who writes catty

obituaries in his

spare time” — ca-

reered through a hila-

rious and touching

tribute.

“A more disrespectful,

trash-reading, talking and

watching woman in North Carolina,

Florida or Texas was not to be

found,” he wrote. “She played

cards like a shark, bowled

and played cribbage like

a pro, and laughed with

the boys until the wee

hours.”

Renay lied a lot,

and she “didn’t cook,

she didn’t clean, and

was lousy with

money”. But she had

other talents, among

them “dyeing her red

roots, weekly manicures”

and “buying dirty magazines. She

said she read them for the articles, but

filthy free speech was Renay’s thing.

“There will be much mourning in the

glamorous locales she went bankrupt

in”, Andy noted, namechecking her

birthplace of McKeesport, Penn-

sylvania, “where she fell in love with

ham, and atheism”, and North Carolina,

“where Renay’s dreams, credit rating

and marriage are all buried”.

The only shock, he admitted, was

that she actually had to die at all. “We

thought Renay could not be killed. God

knows, people tried. A lot.”

Renay had “been toying with death

for decades, but always beating it and

running off in her silver Chevy Nova”.

She had survived two bouts of pneumo-

nia, “two mastectomies, two recessions

... a few abortions... [and] an affair with

Larry King in the 1960s.” The end final-

ly came at a cow sanctuary in Texas,

where she was surrounded by adoring

relatives. She died of complications

from diabetes and old age.

Andy, 52, said yesterday that he had

been touched by the reaction to the

obituary. “It’s typical of the way I write

about my family — humorous, loving,

forgiving, ribald,” he said. “They under-

stand the relationship I have with my

mother, and they love it to bits.”

The memorial planned for next May,

on what would have been her 85th

birthday, will be a “humungous party”,

he promised, “a fitting farewell to the

Queen of the Dirtbags.”

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and “buying

Andy Corren with his mother Renay, saidshereadthem

who “didn’t cook, didn’t clean and was

lousy with money too”

Kidnapped missionaries escape by following the North Star

one of them made a call to the mission.

His first words were: “Barry, we got out.

The Lord delivered us.”

David Troyer, director of the organi-

sation — which has no connection to

Christian Aid — said the former hosta-

ges were “doing reasonably well”. He

added that the charity had “grappled

for many hours” over what to do.

Kidnappings are widespread in Haiti:

about 20 people a day are taken. Since

the assassination of President Jovenel

Moïse in July, the country has descend-

ed further into lawlessness, and gangs

are now estimated to control half of it.

Seventeen members of Christian Aid

Ministries were abducted in October.

At first the kidnappers demanded

$3 million; when that was not paid, they

raised the ransom to $1 million for each

hostage.

Five had already been released when

the 12 made their escape. An FBI team

had been sent to Haiti after the kidnap-

ping, but it was not clear what role it

might have played in any negotiations.

Many supporters of the charity’s

work had “provided funds to pay a ran-

som and allow the engaging process to

continue”, Showalter said, but he did

not say whether any ransom was paid.

Troyer said: “God worked in a mirac-

ulous way to enable the hostages to

escape.”

Haiti
Stephen Gibbs Caracas

All 17 of the freed

hostages, plus

the father of one

of the families,

were reunited in

Florida on

Saturday, after

their daring

starlit escape on

Wednesday night

Modern-day Huck Finn

crosses US in a canoe

FINISH

New

US York

New

Orleans

Kansas

City

Cincinnati

Bismark

Louisville

Portland

Helena

START

Astoria

ACT III

ACT I ACT II

500 miles

JAMES R PEIPERT/NEAL MOORE/INSTAGRAM

A

modern-day

Huckleberry

Finn has

completed an

odyssey that

brought him face to face

“with America’s soul”

(Jacqui Goddard writes).

Neal Moore’s coast-to-

coast journey from

Astoria, Oregon to New

York took him along

22 rivers, through 22

states in 22 months,

covering 7,500 miles in

what he describes as

three acts.

“The idea was to

explore how the

waterways connect

across the country but

also how we as a people

connect,” Moore said.

Having lived overseas

for much of his life, he

returned to see the

bright side of America

as it struggled through

the pandemic that

started shortly after he

set off in February last

year.

Moore, 50, said: “It’s

been a journey of

illumination, a journey

of hope.” Sometimes

hauling his 16ft canoe

and 300lb of kit

overland for days from

one waterway to another

Moore is thought to be

the first canoeist to

paddle solo across the

US from west to east.

Born in Los Angeles

he was a Boy Scout but

managed only half his

canoe badge at the age

of 12. Moore is the

author of Down the

Mississippi: A Modern

Day Huck on America’s

River Road, a 2012 book

in which he likens

himself to Twain’s

fictional vagabond,

Huckleberry Finn.

The first leg of his

latest expedition took

him 1,111 miles upstream

on the Columbia, Snake

and, above, Clark Fork

rivers, followed by a

3,249-mile stretch along

the Missouri and

Mississippi to the Gulf of

Mexico. The final phase

followed a 3,127-mile

route, ending in New

York.

In Montana, he had a

close encounter with a

grizzly bear and in

Louisiana, a close shave

with an alligator. In

Mississippi his canoe

was invaded by a snake,

escorted by dolphins and

rammed by a bull shark.

High winds smashed the

boat against rocks and

an industrial barge on

the Mississippi came

close to running him

over. He had to retrieve

his canoe after the Clark

Fork River in Montana

swelled when water was

released from a dam as

he slept overnight,

washing away his craft,

equipment and supplies.

More than the dramas

and the beauty of the

wilderness, human

encounters made the

greatest impact. He

visited communities

struggling against or

rising above adversity,

from Native American

tribes denied their

ancestral rights to

populations devastated

by the opioid crisis.

“Every which way I

looked, there was a

goodness,” he said.

“When times are rough

and challenging, that’s

when we roll up our

sleeves and look to help

each other out.”

Moore said he was

overwhelmed when he

arrived at the Statue of

Liberty. “That beacon

hand, that light — I’ve

seen it. Sometimes it’s a

smile. Sometimes it’s a

warm meal. People from

all walks of life, rolling

out the red carpet to a

perfect stranger.”

online

An American life lived to the

max: a son’s heartfelt obituary

thetimes.co.uk