Funeral Information

Funeral Services > Obituaries

What Is an Obituary?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines an obituary as "a published notice of a death, usually with a brief biography of the deceased." A more practical definition is that an obituary is documentation of a person's life.

Why Is the Obituary Important?
In most cases, the newspaper obituary is the document of record, to be clipped, copied and distributed to friends and relatives near and far. These obituaries find their way into scrapbooks, family bibles and genealogy records.

Obituary Formats
The array of obituary formats is wide-ranging. The classified, or paid obituary, is fairly standard across the United States. The paid obituary is usually the basic "name, rank and serial number" approach. It is usually charged by the word or line, with an additional charge for a photo.

Another format is the news obituary, which in most markets is considered by the newspaper a community service in recognition of a well-known individual, politician, teacher, doctor, actor and the like. The news obituary is usually written by a newspaper staff writer and is presented as a news story (at no cost to the family).

Yet another format is a hybrid between the two formats mentioned above. It is an obituary composed by the family or a friend of the family and submitted to the newspaper to be run as a news story. Some news organizations charge for this format; others do not. The key to the charge seems to be the size of the news organization. Smaller newspapers serving small communities tend not to charge; the larger the community and news organization, the greater the tendency to charge.

Guidelines for the Obituary
The funeral home professional will most likely play a pivotal role in the development of an obituary. Nonetheless, here are a few points to remember:

• Whenever possible, bring the facts and photo to the funeral arrangement conference. Include the deceased's accomplishments, memories, descriptions and life philosophy.
• The cardinal rule for the obituary is: Get it right! Check the obituary for accuracy and complete information before submitting it to the newspaper.
• Make the obituary a story of life, rather than a notice of death. Inclusion of special interests, accomplishments, talents, hobbies, hopes and dreams, and even humorous incidents, yields an obituary that will be greatly appreciated by family and friends.
• If possible, take time to read and study obituaries online or in media other than your own newspaper. Emulate the best of what you read, and make your obituaries meaningful.

The Self-Written Obituary
An increasing number of people are choosing to script their own obituaries in advance. Professional writers, historians and others who possess writing skills sometimes feel a self-written obituary can best be expressed by the person who lived the life being honored.

The well-written obituary is the ultimate short story. No matter what voice or format the obituary takes, it is a vital part of life's information.