rant · moment 9 of 18
Funeral Etiquette and the Conservative Aunt
from Growing Up Gottschee with Dan St. Germain · #122
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minTim tells a story about a friend's mother's funeral where a woman abruptly asked his politics right after a tearful eulogy, leading into a discussion of funerals, eulogies, and Ray's family's Gochae (ethnic German) heritage and picnics.
- 32:07Tim attends a funeral in Connecticut where his friend gives a eulogy for his mother.
- 32:19Tim claims he destroyed his own grandmother's eulogy, performing for 30 minutes as if it were stand-up.
- 32:38After the burial, the father reads a note he wrote to the mother, everyone is crying.
- 32:53Tim's friend tries to promote his Netflix to the deceased's aunt, who responds by asking Tim's political beliefs and refusing to talk to conservatives.
- 33:33Tim reflects on how quickly people jump to political division, even at a funeral before the body is in the ground.
- 33:54The funeral had buffalo wings, meatballs, quesadillas—Tim says he likes funerals and could get addicted to going to different ones.
- 34:29Uncle Junior from The Sopranos kept attending funerals while on house arrest, using them as an excuse to leave.
- 34:51Tim's grandparents' funeral was held at a Gochae hall, a community space for people from an ethnic region between Austria and Germany.
- 35:56The Gochae community held festivals with beer gardens and Miss Gochae pageants before the tradition died out.
- 36:54Tim's aunt by marriage explained that Gochae was an ethnic outpost during the Middle Ages, built like Israeli settlements in Yugoslav territory.
- 37:30At Gochae family gatherings, they would sing Happy Birthday in English first before singing it in their native language.
The SopranosGochaeYugoslaviaConnecticut