Grande & Secret Order of Obituary Cocktail

One of our editors was in New Orleans and photographed a banner for the Grande & Secret Order of Obituary Cocktail. Searching for more information on the Grande & Secret Order of Obituary Cocktail, I found two recipes on the internet.
Atlanta has two bar/restaurants dear to our profession, one is named Graveyard and the other is Six Feet Under, across from the historic Oakland Cemetery. Check them out next time you're in Atlanta and order the Obituary Cocktail. If the bartender doesn't know how to make it, here are the two recipes:

Adapted from Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans, by Kerri McCaffety.

Around the beginning of the twentieth century, America invented the ultimate cocktail the martini. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop made a special version with an added splash of absinthe and called it the Obituary Cocktail.

• 4 jiggers dry gin
• 1/2 jigger dry vermouth
• 1/2 jigger Pernod (a legal absinthe substitute)

Chill in a shaker and strain.

Here's another version:

Obituary Cocktail

• 2 ounces gin
• 1/4 ounce dry vermouth
• 1/4 ounce pastis

Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Bottoms up.
Kay Powell
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Obituaries Editor

Twilight Zone moment

Wally Guenther, my partner-in-grim at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, wrote an obituary that appeared in today's (Oct. 26, 2006) paper for Nikki Kukwa, a remarkable 22-year-old Kent State University aviation student who died of leukemia.

Even the time of her death was remarkable. And somewhat eerie.

Wally writes: "Her favorite time of the day was 11:11 a.m.," an uncle, Rick Kukwa, of Philadelphia, said. "We don't know why, but when she saw the time on the clock she would always say, 'Make a wish.' "

Nikki Kukwa died at 11:11 a.m. Monday, her family said.

Please cue the "Twilight Zone" theme.