An obituary website is being criticized by a Calgary family after an unauthorized tribute to their deceased father solicited unwanted flowers, which could have inadvertently revealed his death to their mother, who suffers from dementia.

The Laursen family submitted an obituary for father Erik shortly after his death on July 4. The day after it was published on a Strathmore funeral home website, an unauthorized obituary was available on Everhere.com.

A cached copy of the now-removed, unauthorized obituary for Erik Laursen solicits the purchase of flowers for the family against their wishes. (Everhere/Google Cache)

The site had previously posted unauthorized and inaccurate obituaries for victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, and has connections to Afterlife, another obituary site which shut down earlier this year amid criticism.

My mother... would have found out inadvertently that her husband of over 60 years was no longer alive. - Rick Laursen

Everhere's obituary actively solicited visitors to send flowers, while the version approved by the family included an explicit request that mourners donate to charity in lieu of sending flowers.

"Potentially there could have been flowers showing up at the door [of the family home]," said Erik's son Rick Laursen.

"My mother... had she read the card, then she would have found out inadvertently that her husband of over 60 years was no longer alive."

Margaret Laursen's dementia is connected with a series of mini-strokes she had previously suffered. According to son Rick, medical professionals have determined she must not be told of her husband's death to protect her own health.

"Any reminders of that, such as people coming to the house to offer condolences, would just be upsetting to her and would cause more permanent damage to the way her brain functions," said Rick Laursen.

"The most horrible thing I can imagine... like looting"

The family only found out about the unauthorized obituary when a close friend of their late father came across the obituary after a web search. Initially, neighbour Joseph Verba did not realize it was not legitimate.

"It looked very legit, it looked quite nice. When I was reading it there was something that just didn't add up because of the family situation, they did not wish to have any flowers, any condolences, sympathy cards of that sort delivered to the house," said Joseph Verba.

Erik Laursen died on July 4, 2018. An unauthorized obituary with no involvement from the family appeared on everhere.com by the next day. (Supplied by Rick Laursen)

Verba lived across the street from the late Erik Laursen for decades and called him "a second father." After he realized the obituary wasn't authorized or legitimate, he was emotional.

"This is the most horrible thing I can imagine. It's like looting," said Verba.

Obituary removed within a day

Rick Laursen says no flowers have shown up at his parents' home yet, and the obituary has been removed from Everhere after he filled out an online form to request its removal.

However, he calls Everhere's publication of his father's obituary "very deceitful" and says it caused a huge amount of stress, as this happened while he was managing his mother's health and planning his late father's funeral.

"Had it not been for my friend [Verba] warning me about this I would have been unaware," said Laursen.

Errors were found in Everhere's unauthorized obituaries for some of those killed in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. (Everhere)

Laursen was hoping to speak with someone at Everhere about the situation but has not been able to make contact other than what he believes was an auto-generated email reply.

The website said... if it was important that I remove it quickly I should call them by telephone," said Laursen.

"I did want to talk to them about it."

Everhere did not respond to multiple interview requests from CBC News.