Typically you don't see readers of the obituary page breaking out laughing, but those who scanned the obituaries of the Albuquerque Journal on Friday might've let go a chuckle or two. David Layman, a resident of the New Mexico town of Los Lunas, watched character Walter White perish in the last episode of the AMC series "Breaking Bad" on Sunday night and felt inspired to commemorate his "life" in an unusual way: by taking out an obituary in his local newspaper.
The notice, published on page A4 of the Journal's Friday edition, features the image of Bryan Cranston, the actor who plays White in the series, alongside a note attributing the "death" to "a long battle with lung cancer, and a gunshot wound." "A co-founder of Gray Matter," the notice goes on, "White was a research chemist who taught high school chemistry, and later founded a meth manufacturing empire." Layman, who like the fiction character teaches science in Los Lunas, told the Albuquerque Journal in an article also published on Friday that he had been a "humongous 'Breaking Bad' fan since the beginning" and that he had appeared in the pilot episode. He continued that he felt compelled to place the obituary "because the series was based in Albuquerque and it provides some of us some closure."
The series was set and filmed in Albuquerque for six years. In it, White teamed up with Jesse Pinkman, a former student, in the manufacturing of a particular kind of methamphetamine drug. Layman told the Journal that the show helped raise the profile of his hometown and suggested that fans felt a particular connection with White because of his life's struggles. "Here's a guy that was living paycheck to paycheck," he said. "He ends up with cancer, has a son who is disabled, a wife who is going to have a baby and he finds some way to work it all out. He becomes unstoppable, he thinks. He's a little man who kind of made it, even if he didn't make it the right way."
The fake obituary, which lists Walter White's age (52) and nickname ("Heisenberg"), also says the character is "survived by his wife, Skyler Lambert; son Walter "Flynn" Jr.; and daughter Holly." It adds, "A private memorial was held by his family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a drug abuse prevention charity of your voice. He will be greatly missed," it concludes.
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