|
An obituary |
|
An obituary is a notice of the death of a person, usually published in a newspaper, written or commissioned by the newspaper, and usually including a short biography.
It is similar to a death notice (also known as a funeral notice), which is also published on the obituary page.
A death notice is a paid advertisement written by family members
and placed in the newspaper either by the family or the funeral home.
You may decide you do not feel that it is necessary to place an
obituary in your local paper, and that is absolutely fine. It is your
personal choice.
The purpose of publishing an obituary is to let
everyone in the community know that the person has passed away. It
also serves to commemorate the life of the deceased, and can be a
tribute to what the person has done in the community.
The best time to place an obituary is either soon after the person
passes away, or a couple of days before services are held.
Services usually occur within a week of the death.
If you do not
get around to placing the obituary before the service, it is still
fine to publish one afterwards. To reach the most readers, the best
day of the week to publish an obituary is usually Sunday.
Because the price that you will pay is based on length, it is a good
idea to decide before submitting the obituary what information you
would like to include.
If you are the one writing the obituary, you may want to consult with other family members to see if there is anything that they would really like to see included in the obituary.
An obituary can be very simple, just a few lines stating that the person has passed away with some service information, or it can be a long obituary telling the life story of the deceased.