The "crabby old man" who died with an inspirational poem in his pocket-Fiction!

Touching Poem Found in the Pocket of a “Crabby Old Man” Who Died in a Hospital-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

The eRumor includes a poem said to have been found in the pocket of an old man who died in a hospital in Florida.  
 

The Truth:

The story about the old man (in some versions described as 100 years old) is a fabrication.

The poem, titled Too Soon Old, was written by Dave Griffith of Fort Worth, Texas.  Griffith told TruthOrFiction.com that he wrote the poem more than 20 years ago and that he meant for it to be simple and to the point, from youth through old age in his own personal life, high school football, Marines, marriage, the ravages of his own disabilities. 

It was brought to our attention that this poem is an adaptation of “Crabbit Old Woman” by Phyllis McCormack who was a nurse at the Sunnyside Royal Hospital in Hillside, north of Montrose, Scotland.

Someone took the poem from his site, created a false story about it, and started it circulating on the Internet. 

Griffith is the author of more than 500 poems, which are posted on his personal website.  TruthOrFiction.Com had to remove the link to Griffith’s site after Google posted a warning that there might be malicious files on the site that could harm the computers of those who visit it.


Posted  10/09/09   Updated 2/08/14