Dear Facebook

Dear Facebook,

Winston Hamby, my father, passed away on Feb. 25, 2012. He had been on Facebook for several years. My mother had never had her own profile, but she logged in to my dad’s account several times in the days following his death to respond to condolences, etc. Then my mom decided she would like to have an account of her own. On March 8, we sat down together to open her own Facebook account. We were going through the steps and had just established the bare bones of her profile when something strange happened.

She received a friend request from Winston Hamby. My dad. Who had been dead for 13 days.

We had been logged into his account just before opening her account, but no one was logged into his account when her account received the friend request. We found this friend request from beyond a bit unsettling, but a little funny at the same time. We figure heaven must have one heck of a wireless connection.

I’m just wondering if there is an explanation for how this could have happened, or if we’ve got ourselves a 21st Century social networking ghost story.

Sincerely,
Deana Hamby Nall