'This is not an ad for a pawn shop, but an obituary for a great Woman'

When Sandy Stocks's mother died last summer, it fell to him to write the obituary.

The inspiration for it came from a conversation between Sandy and his siblings when they went over their mother's will and discovered she left her heirs with a lot of interesting items.

"Who wants a toaster that's been used for 15 years?" Sandy told CBC's Out in the Open host Piya Chattopadhyay. "Let alone a TV that weighs 1,200 pounds!"

Sandy wrote the entire obituary in one evening and had a lot of fun doing it. He said it was a great way for him to grieve because he could remember all the good times they had together as a family.

"It's good to get that celebration of life going, and that's the way I like to look at her, it's an incredible memory to have."

If you're looking for 2 extremely large TV's from the '90s, a large ceramic stork (we think) umbrella/cane stand, a toaster oven (slightly used) or even a 2001 Oldsmobile with a spoiler (she loved putting the pedal to the metal), with only 71,000 kilometers and 1,000 tools that we aren't sure what they're used for. You should wait the appropriate amount of time and get in touch.- Obituary for Mary Stocks on Legacy.com

Out of their friends and distant relatives that saw the obituary, only one person questioned the tone of it.

"She said, 'I just don't think you've done justice to your mom,'" Sandy said. "And I went, 'Wow, you couldn't have known my mom that well!'"

But the audience for the tribute wasn't limited to Mary's friends and family.When the obituary was published in the newspaper, people from all over the world reached out to Sandy with condolences, memories of their own deceased relatives, as well as requests to write their obituary.

Sandy said he politely declined, explaining that it would be impossible to write a good obituary for someone he doesn't know; but he did leave some advice for people who wish to write their own obituary.

"Have a good laugh! You're not going to be around while they're reading it, so why does it matter?"