If you are tasked with writing an obituary for your loved one, similar to giving eulogies, you are receiving an opportunity to paint your loved one’s incredible life in your own words so that they can be remembered well.
There’s nothing quite so moving as an obituary that truly captures and honors the spirit of the deceased.
This article will guide you on how to create a great memorable obituary. Let’s get started.
What Is an Obituary?
An obituary is a report, especially in a newspaper, that gives the news of someone’s death and details about their life.
The definition above is taken from the Cambridge dictionary. Obituaries are essentially a piece of information that remembers a loved one.
However during the years that it has developed, many people also utilize obituary as a way to express and share how their loved ones lived their life so that they can be remembered well.
What’s the Difference Between an Obituary and a Death Notice?
First, let’s quickly go through the difference between an obituary and a death notice.
The difference between an obituary and a death notice is that an obituary will usually include more details about the person’s life and achievements.
On the other hand, a death notice tends to just provide key facts such as name, age, date of birth, and date of death.
Why Do People Write Obituaries?
There are multiple reasons. One of the most common reasons for people to write an obituary is to announce the death of a loved one.
A funeral details or donation request may be included in an obituary. Writing an obituary will help spread the word and allow people to know where to send their funeral flowers, donations, or attend the funeral service.
Some also consider it as a funeral tradition whereas when someone died, there needs to be a piece of remembrance that captures the well-lived life story of the deceased.
Some people wanted to have a medium to express and share how precious the life their loved ones had lived. A well-written obituary can attract attention from relevant people that may provide support or be inspired by their life.
From the various multiple reasons, one redlining can be drawn which is in every obituary, it always tries to remember the person who lived by describing how their life was.
What Makes a Memorable Obituary?
What makes a memorable obituary is when what is written can summarize a person’s life and legacy that feels personal and reflected who the deceased really was.
There can be some stories shared from their life that very well describe their amazing personality.
Here’s an example of an obituary written by Monique Heller to remember his 82-year-old father that was praised as the “best obituary ever” by the New York Times.
The obituary is quite funny and entertaining to read, while also being incredibly loving and informative. The funny aspect of the obituary feels right because Monique’s writing style reflected her father’s personality (he was a fun person that loves to prank).
Monique shares interesting facts about her father’s life — like that he was a self-taught chemist, a volunteer firefighter, and a Navy veteran. It gives the reader a picture of what her father truly is like as a person.
At its core, an obituary informs people that someone has died with information details about where the funeral is located and when it will be held.
But when written well, an obituary can reflect a person’s life in a meaningful way.
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What to Include in an Obituary?
Announcement of the Death
This includes the full name of the deceased, including a nickname if any.
It is common to write about the age at death, where they live (doesn’t have to be too detailed. for example, the name of the city would suffice), and the day and date of death.
You can also mention the place of death, while the cause of death is optional. It is up to the family whether or not a cause of death is to be displayed on the obituary.
Provide General Biographical Information
The next part is to provide biographical information about the deceased. Remember, feel free to personalize its delivery.
General biographical information usually includes information such as their date of birth, where were they born, the names of the parents, siblings, or other close friends worthy of mentioning.
Their marriage and their spouse. Where did they go to school or other education information? How about their work? Share their jobs, activities, and communities if any.
Make It Personal
To make it personal, share a bit about any of their important work, or activity. Do they ever receive an award or recognition for something they work passionately?
Share a story about it. If they have any special hobby or interest that is truly unique to them, you can consider sharing that too in the obituary.
These include any unusual attributes, humor, or other significant memories.
Listing the Surviving Family Members
After sharing stories about the deceased, the next part is usually followed by mentioning the families surviving the loss.
For example, it is commonly written like: Survived by his/her spouse (their name), beloved children (name of children), and three wonderful grandchildren (name of grandchildren).
You could write parents, friends, nephews and other relatives. There’s also a term such as “predeceased by” in which you could write anyone closely related to your loved one that had already passed away earlier before them.
Funeral Information and Details
Finally, the end of the obituary usually provides information about the funeral service details. You can write its day, date, time and place.
If applicable, include visitation information, and the name of the funeral home in charge of arrangements.
If there is any memorial fund established, you can share that information here as well. Any
memorial donation suggestions and addresses can be mentioned here.
What Not to Include in an Obituary?
Remember that an obituary is not a personal tribute, but rather an attempt to announce and share who the deceased is as a person.
Therefore, obituaries should not include overly personal opinions or be written in the first person. The word “I” is rarely used in an obituary.
Step by Step on How to Write an Obituary
1. Start Messy. Jot Down Ideas
Start by jotting down ideas and key facts about your loved one on a note. List the person’s name, birthplace, age, date of death, location, and cause of death (optional).
Continue then by listing whether they got married, had kids, where they work, something unique about them, etc.
The goal is to ideate and creates a list of things that you can later choose to include in the obituary.
2. Start Drafting the Obituary.
There’s a practical tip to help you write an obituary in a timely manner.
The tip is to “write in the present tense and change it to the past tense later.”
This approach will help you to write engagingly and also will not block you from concerns of grammatical errors. Let it flow and write how your heart is telling you.
You could then adjust the draft into past tense later after you are happy with the points you have written.
3. Reach Out to Friends and Family
It may help to ask others about what they remember of the deceased. Ask if there are any particular unique experiences or memories related to them.
Hearing other people’s thoughts and perspectives may help you to shape and write the obituary in a meaningful way. It provides a picture of how your loved one is being remembered by others.
4. Review and Review
Finally, review your final draft before submitting it for publication. Ask others for their feedback.
Take a break, and re-read it so that you get a fresh perspective as if first time reading it.
How does it feel? Does it feel like it is how your loved one would want to be remembered? If not, adjust and tweak! Hearing feedback from other people will really help here.
How Much Does It Cost to Post an Obituary?
On average, it will cost around $350 to post roughly 150 words of an obituary to a newspaper.
Price varies between states. In New York, some newspapers can charge you between $780 to $1,930 (150 words to 600 words).
In smaller states and newspaper publishers, it can cost less. We researched the price of posting obituaries in several newspapers. Here is the result:
| Newspaper name and its content space | Obituary Cost ($) |
|---|---|
| The Birmingham News | |
| 3 Inches,150 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 150 |
| 4 Inches, 475 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 210 |
| 6 Inches, 530 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 299 |
| 8 Inches, 935 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 379 |
| 12 Inches, 1,900 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 539 |
| 16 Inches, 2,800 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 699 |
| Dothan Eagle | |
| 150 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 124 |
| 475 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 173.8 |
| 530 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 190 |
| 935 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 248 |
| 1,900 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 409.78 |
| 2,800 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 1D Printed, 30D Online Obit | 550 |
| Anchorage Daily News | |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website and Lasting memorial page | 222 |
| Arizona Daily Star | |
| 18 lines (+/- 84 words), one photo, posted on Arizona Daily Star, their Facebook Fan Page, Tucson photo gallery, and permanently on Tucson.com powered by Legacy | 485.14 |
| Arizona Daily Sun | |
| one photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 132.45 |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 219.9 |
| Daily Breeze | |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 LARGE photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 1,094 |
| one LARGE photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 737.45 |
| 87 words/ 600 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 685.25 |
| one photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 546.05 |
| Daily Bulletin | |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 509 |
| one photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 332 |
| 87 words/ 600 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 288 |
| Daily Pilot | |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 375.83 |
| 87 words/ 600 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 225.83 |
| Fresno Bee | |
| 300 words/ 2000 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 1,324.28 |
| one photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 894.56 |
| 87 words/ 600 characters, 1 photo, 1D Printed, online obit at news website | 801.13 |
| Chicago Tribune | |
| Small: Up to 2.25″ deep approximately 11 lines (88 words) of body text, no photo | 285 |
| Medium: Up to 2.9″ deep approximately 17 lines (105 words) of body text. 1 photo | 485 |
| Large: Up to 3.5″ deep approximately 22 lines (127.6 words) of body text, 1 photo | 605 |
| The Post Star | |
| one photo, 836 characters / 129 words | 282 |
| Mississippi Press | |
| 3 Inches,150 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 90 |
| 4 Inches, 475 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 110 |
| 6 Inches, 530 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 159 |
| 8 Inches, 935 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 189 |
| 12 Inches, 1,900 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 229 |
| 16 Inches, 2,800 Characters, 1 Photo (2 Inch), 30D Online Obit | 279 |
Is There Any Obituary Alternative?
For some people, posting an obituary to a newspaper can feel expensive. It is only posted for a day, and the content space is also quite limited for a piece of content that tries to remember a precious loved one’s life.
Online memorial websites, is a great obituary alternative. You can write your loved one’s life story with a much more spacious content capacity, upload multiple photos, and videos, also have a space to receive tributes and memories comments for the deceased on your page from other families and friends.
Online memorial websites will stay online forever so you can keep and access the page for a prolonged period of time.
Most online memorial creator platforms charge half of what a newspaper obituary would normally cost.
If you are interested in creating an online memorial website for your loved one, check out our memorial website creator at Murial. It is a great obituary alternative. Give it a look!
End of Article
What used to be just an announcement of death, nowadays many have started using obituary as a tool to remember their loved one’s life story by writing it in a meaningful way.
Everyone can write a memorable obituary. The key is to express your loved one life story and make it personal. By following our guide, you will keep it informative and appropriate.
We hope this article helped you in your preparation for writing a memorable obituary.
Thank you for reading through. Good luck with your writing!
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