The Obituary
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What is the premise of Alex’s story and why did he contact the show?
Hello, search engine listeners. Quick note before we start, I just wanted to say how excited I am about this new season of episodes we have for you. We just have a bunch of stories, including this one, that are more experimental. There'll be some more original investigations, which we think you'll really enjoy. And we've been able to do that because of you. We've had a little more budget to add freelance production and research help. And that's because you all have been listening, you've been sharing the show with your friends, and especially because some of you have even signed up for premium memberships to the show to our incognito mode feed. And I just wanted to thank you all for that. We are tremendously grateful.
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Welcome to Search Engine. I'm PJ Vote. No question too big, no question too small. This week's story began with a call from a listener named Alex. He was talking to me from his home in Chicago. Check one two. Hello. Hey, hey. Hello. How's it going?
Hi. I'm I'm doing well. Thanks. How are you, PJ?
I'm okay. What are the posters behind?
Oh, so this is my home office slash studio, uh, where it's just a bunch of random kind of music posters. I've got his royal badness right here, Prince, one of my heroes. It mostly music related stuff. In the closet behind me is kind of where I've got a a little sort of makeshift memorial set up for Whitney, my wife. her ashes as well as, you know, just some photos, some trinkets. Those are some of her clothes hanging up, but most of what's remained is kind of just set up in here with me.
Alex had written me an email about his wife Whitney. She and their unborn son died in October of twenty twenty two. Alex's email was about this experience he had had online in the wake of Whitney's death, where the story of her life had been hijacked in a very bizarre way. He wanted to tell me that story, which for him meant also explaining a little bit about who Whitney had been back when she was still alive.
We're together for um for nearly twelve years, uh married for three of them. And when I moved to Chicago, she ha was already here going to school at the School of the Art Institute. She graduated from there with a degree in fine art and drawing. But when I met her, she was working at a Mariano's, which is a chain of supermarkets around here. And I was working in the produce department. She was in the liquor department. And I would kind to go out of my way with my produce cart on the way to the produce section to kind of go through liquor to just sort of flirt with her a little and
Oh, isn't that obvious? Like does a man from produce not have much of a reason to find himself in the liquor section?
It was definitely a roundabout way to get over there. Yeah. So I think she knew exactly what I was doing.
Alex and Whitney bonded pretty quickly. Whitney was in a car accident early in their courtship, and as she recovered at her parents' home, they talk long distance on the telephone. When she came back to the city, they quickly moved in together. The rest, Alex says, was just kind of history. He got to spend over a decade with this person who was for him his hero.
You know, I d I certainly am not exaggerating when I say in no uncertain terms that she was just the kindest, most authentic Creative and truly empathetic person I've ever known. She just had the most incredible moral compass that I've ever seen on anyone.
What did that look like?
It was just I really didn't see any sort of gray area with her when it came to like what was right or wrong. In fact, since she's passed, there's this kind of thing that I live by, which is www. What would Whitney want? Professionally, you know, she dedicated her life and career to a nonprofit based here in Chicago that it provides a studio and gallery space for adult artists with developmental disabilities.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the premise of Alex’s story and why did he contact the show?
0:00–5:05
2
How does Alex describe Whitney’s life, career, and their relationship before her death?
5:05–12:44
3
What medical complications led to Whitney’s sudden death during pregnancy?
12:44–22:38
4
Why did the phrase “died suddenly” in Whitney’s obituary spark an online backlash?
22:38–41:52
5
How did anti‑vaccine conspiracy groups hijack Whitney’s obituary and spread false narratives?
41:52–52:44