“My grandfather died peacefully in his sleep, not like his passengers”

“Like my grandfather, I wish to die peacefully in my sleep, not screaming like the passengers in his car” was posted to the newsgroup info.sun-managers on August 31, 1993. The joke soon became very popular, with wording that varies slightly. Authorship is unknown.
 
American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) is sometimes credited with the saying, but he never said it. American comedian Emo Philips and American actor and comedian Wil Shriner have also been credited with the joke.
     
“Apparently, I snore so loudly that it scares everyone in the car that I’m driving” is a related joke.
   
   
Google Groups: info.sun-managers
SUMMARY: inetd problems
Martin Lichtin
8/31/93
(...)
“Like my grandfather, I wish to die peacefully in my sleep, not screaming like the passengers in his car.”
- Unknown
 
Googe Groups: rec.humor
Netwit, Electronic Humor Magazine.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
12/1/93
(...)
When I die, I want to go peacefully.
In my sleep.
Like my grandfather.
 
Not screaming,
like the passengers in his car.
 
Google Groups: comp.unix.unixware
Problem running X clients from DTM - UnixWare P.E.
Steve Zwaska
12/13/93
(...)
When I die, I want to go peacefully, in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming hysterically like the passengers in his car.
     
Google Groups: rec.motorcycles
Cage with Flaming Tire
Gaz
7/14/94
(...)
When I die, I want to go sleeping like my grandfather…Not screaming like the passengers in his car.
     
Google Groups: rec.arts.books.marketplace
WANTED: information on Ian Watson’s Harlequin
Denis R. Papp
11/29/94
(...)
“When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did in his sleep.  Not screaming like the passengers in his car.”
 
11 June 1995, Washington (DC) Post, “Dead Ends” by Joel Achenbach, pg. F6, col. 3:
At the Nighthawk Saloon, in an old hotel across from the train station, a notice on the wall says: When I die, I want to go peacefully, like my Grandfather did. In his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.
 
Google Books
I’m So Glad You Told Me What I Didn’t Wanna Hear
By Barbara Johnson
Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group
1996
Pg. ?:
When I die, I want to die peacefully, like my grandfather did, in his sleep . . . not screaming, like the passengers in his car!
 
16 January 1996, Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, “Humor,” pg. 2C, col. 2:
In a prominent spot she has taped up a poster that says: “When I die I want to go like my grandfather did, in his sleep, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.”
   
Google Books
Asphalt Nation:
How the Automobile Took Over America, and how We Can Take It Back
By Jane Holtz Kay
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
1997
Pg. 101:
“When I die, I hope I go like my grandfather did, peacefully and in his sleep. Not screaming, like the passengers in his car.” — sick joke
 
Google Groups: soc.culture.filipino
Announcement: SF Bay Area Get-together
Sonny Dionida
2/19/97
(...)
“When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did - in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers in his car.”
 
Google Groups: alt.humor
Words of Wisdom Jokes
Matt Adler
7/15/97
(...)
When I die I want to go peacefully, like my grandfather did, in his sleep, not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.
 
Google Books
Keep the Fire!
By Donald E. Anderson
Xulon Press
2005
Pg. 117:
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did, in his sleep, not screaming like the passengers in his car!
UNKNOWN