When I read the paper that is, which is usally only on Sunday. I don’t just read them, I pore over them.
Some of them are fascinating. Tucson attracts a lot of retirees, and some of those old people have had quite illustrious careers, and it’s interesting reading about people that may not have been celebrities on a movie screen but in their fields were famous. Professors, scientists, doctors, attorneys, and yes, real celebrities of the stage and screen, among many others.
Also, I’ve worked at a couple of doctor’s offices and have lived here 10 years, so I frequently knew at least one person on any given obituary page.
I always feel a pang of sadness when I see a younger person’s obit, especially if they had young children, and if there is no cause of death given I wonder about it.
I never thought this was weird before, but lately I’ve noticed that not many other people read them. Do you?
I don’t read them so much when I’m in the city, but I read them faithfully when I am in my hometown, where it is more likely that I will either know of the family, or know the places that people lived, worked, etc. It seems more personal.
I have a coworker with an interesting hobby – she has a collection of obits that she has clipped where the deceased person’s surname is related in some way to the person’s occupation. Like a Mr. Rose who was a florist. I’m intrigued by this, and also amazed that anyone would come up with a hobby like that.
That is interesting! Is that all you do or do you have other duties at the paper? Do you like it? Is it mostly family or friends that write them and give them to you and you just print it, or do they give you the facts and you compose it? Any stories to tell?
I’ve read the obits for years; I can’t really say why but I do find reading them at least interesting to learn about people’s lives. I mostly look at them on-line, in the places where I grew up in and went to high school at. In recent years, I’ve seen the obits for parents of many of my HS classmates and even a few classmates themselves, unfortunately.
Last week I saw an obit that I emailed my Dad about, asking if it was the daughter of a family friend (from years ago, but a friend that he kept in touch with). He called the mother to express his condolences, and it wasn’t her daughter!!! In my defense, it was not a common name and the town was small–it would have been unusual for there to have been two people with that name and around the same age, but apparently there were. I’m thinking it may be a while before I point out any more obits to my Dad. I can’t imagine what the mother must be going through. GAH.
Since moving abroad, I don’t get a daily paper anymore. Reading them online somehow isn’t the same.
I did try to get friends and relatives to clip them out and send them to me, but somehow, they didn’t understand the importance of this, and it never really got off the ground.
I find it extremely dislocating to find out three or four years after the fact that a public figure I know of vaguely, but who was not important enough to make international headlines, has died. And I was genuinely upset the day I found out my favourite poet had died over two years previously, and I hadn’t known about it.
I’ve been reading obits since I was old enough to read the print for my Grandparents, so going on 30+ years.
Most are the standard obits, but every once in awhile there is one that stands out and makes you go " Gee, they seemed like a really decent person."
There was one in particular around here where it extolled the virtues of this guy who died young ( before 40, IRC) and all his friends and family stuff. Very upbeat, but the last line of the obit before the funeral home info was about ’ if you have a drinking problem or know someone who does, do not hesitate to get help… so and so died from this disease…he had so much to offer…blah blah blah."
I always thought that was a courageous obit.
I used to write them for a short time for a small radio station. The 10 or so funeral homes would provide the details and I’d type up copy to be read each day on air.
And heaven help ya if you missed one! The old folks who listened to the show like it was the Wall Street Stock Report would call up and tell me if we missed someone, if we got a fact wrong, or what have you. “Edith had the most beautiful garden of anyone on the block! Why didn’t you mention that?!” or “Henry died last night and I didn’t hear his name mentioned on the show!” “You pronounced ‘Warschevitsky’ wrong!” (I didn’t read it…I just wrote it). They were like groupies or something!
The saddest one was about a baby who choked to death on a grape.
I read them. I collect them. I have mine ready to go. The ones in the Daily Telegraph has the best ones. I also cruise the New York TImes.
Why are most obits so dull? Few lives are. The best one I ever read was in the Times for a rich lady who lived a rich life in NYC. When her house caught fire her butler woke her. She grabbed the cat and ran out. Then she remembered to guest upstairs.
She reentered the house. Got the guest out to the roof. She got on the roof and fell to her death. The FDNY gave her a FD funeral. A rare honor.
I don’t… but perhaps I should. Seems I’m missing out on something.
But the real reason I’m posting to this is to tell you that, while having breakfast at a local buffet with my family, I saw an older gentleman with the obituary pages from TWO different newspapers. He would read one and then use a pen to mark a diagonal line through it. I noticed that all of the diagonals ran the same direction () with one exception (/).
I wonder if the one marked in the opposite manner held some sort of significance.
My mother reads them religiously. Every word of every obit, every day.
Then she calls me to ask me “Did you know that your third cousin once removed died? I know you never met her, and she didn’t have the same last name as you, but I thought you’d like to know.”
I skim them, but then I’m a periodicals librarian and have a professional interest. We spend lots and lots of time helping people look up old obituaries in the microfilm. I tell you what, throw a tomato at me if you want, but there is nobody on the planet who thinks they’re more interesting than a geneaologist. And nobody more incorrect.
In our family it’s called “cognomen syndrome”. And now googling to check, apparently my parents got that from Tom Stoppard. Here are some other choices:
