Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick passed away on Aug. 30 at the age of 79, according to the Associated Press. Little is known about the woman. The Reno newspaper reported that she lived in a mobile home with 15 cats up until she was hospitalized in May for treatment of bladder cancer. Although her cause of death in unknown, it might be related to her illness. Nevertheless, her children wanted the whole world to know who their mother was, and in her obituary, they finally got even and exposed the years of torture and abuse suffered thanks to her.
Katherine Reddick, the daughter who submitted the obituary, held nothing back in the nine-sentence post that ran in the Reno Gazette-Journal on Tuesday: "She is survived by six of her eight children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. On behalf of her children who she abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty and shame that she delivered on her children."
The 57-year-old daughter said she decided to share the story of their painful physical and mental abuse after consulting with her brother, Patrick Reddick, 58. They said they grew up with four siblings in a Carson City orphanage after they were removed from their mother's home and had been estranged from her for more than 30 years. Six of Johnson-Reddick's eight children were admitted to the Nevada Children's Home from 1963 to 1964 after they endured regular beatings, sometimes with a metal-tipped belt, and other abuse at the hands of their mother, Patrick Reddick said. He said he's had phone calls from "all over the world" about the obituary.
"While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit," the obit said.
"Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgivable, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a 'humane society,'" the obituary concludes. "Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America."
Both Patrick and Katherine Reddick reportedly testified before the 1987 legislature on bills to make courts give equal consideration to the best interest of a child when courts terminate parental rights. Former state Sen. Sue Wagner, who authored the legislation that ultimately was signed into law, remembers meeting with them at the time. She told KOLO-TV in Reno that it was one of the reasons Nevada became one of few states to address the issue at the time. "I'm very happy that they now are free of their mother," Wagner said.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
