# Does anyone else read the obituaries of strangers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247 "2003-08-06T02:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/1 "2003-08-06T02:13:45Z")
My father and I have a peculiar habit. Within certain parameters we read the obituaries of people we do not know. For me I always read the obituaries of people whose ages are listed as 99 or 100. For the former it is to see how close they came to the big one, and for the latter it is to see how much they cleared the big one by. My father reads the obituaries of women at least 85 or older, because he jokes they are almost _always_ widows, that very few elderly women are listed as “survived by” a husband. My best story is about the obituary of a guy who died **two days** before his hundredth birthday. The last line of the obit was _priceless_. It stated “The party planned for his hundredth birthday will go on as scheduled.” And just yesterday my dad was surprised to see an old lady’s obit. She was indeed 100, and was survived by her elderly husband. They had been married for eighty one years. So how weird are my father and I? Does anyone else do something like this? ---
**Author:** ![fotosbyfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@fotosbyfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fotosbyfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/2 "2003-08-06T02:24:19Z")
I used to wallpaper my office with obits from the NY Times. They had to be semi-famous people (Tiny Tim and Jimmy the Greek - two examples), people who originally invented some well-known product (the guy who invented day-glo paint), or someone whom I had heard of, but for some reason or another, fell off the radar scope (the lady who used to do a gardening show on PBS). It made for interesting reading when I was pretending to work. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/3 "2003-08-06T02:31:36Z")
I read the obits every day. The one in The (London) Times are the best. The New York Times sometimes get a good one. I like to read the biographies. Remarkable (and sad) how many lady’s obits could be summed up as “She married well.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/4 "2003-08-06T02:56:20Z")
Glad to know I am not alone. Someday I want to find the obituary Tom Lehrer was referring to when he said “Last December there appeared in the papers, the juiciest, spiciest,_raciest_ obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read.”(It was Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, married three times, with, according to Lehrer, a number of other relationships.) ---
**Author:** ![sleepytimebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@sleepytimebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleepytimebaby)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/5 "2003-08-06T03:24:39Z")
Actually yes on slow news days. I think there is something really morbid about doing it on a regular basis but whatever floats your boat. On the other hand, I can see how it is sort of interesting. Wow! 81 years. Most couples don’t make it to 8 years. ---
**Author:** ![serefa99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@serefa99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serefa99)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/6 "2003-08-06T04:16:58Z")
i read the obits of the people i know i’ve taken care of…i’m a nurse. it’s much better to remember them the way their family saw them than how they were while they were in hospital. now i make it a point to try to learn something about them while they’re still here, if they can tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/7 "2003-08-06T04:36:50Z")
When I was a little kid, I would look to see the oldest person who had died, and ones born in exotic places. It’s kind of sick, looking back on it. Young people that had died always sort of freaked me out, because they almost always died of an accident. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/8 "2003-08-06T04:44:27Z")
I routinely read the obituaries. Sometimes I’ll discover that a relative of someone I know has died, or someone I went to high school with, or even a member of my church. I realized long ago that it’s quite easy to miss someone’s funeral if you don’t read the obituaries; you can talk to someone (or about them) on Sunday and they will have died and been buried by the following week. And no, I’m not as old as that makes me sound. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/9 "2003-08-06T06:51:31Z")
_hangs head in shame_ My name is **Salem** and I’m an obituaryaholic. I have had a morbid fascination with them for a really, really long time. I scan for mention of the town I live and work in now, the town for which I’m the newspaper’s editor and for the town I grew up in. I also notice very young people/children which inevitably saddens and frightens me, for people around my age (same reaction), and elderly folks around my Dad’s age (just the sad part there). But of course since I work for two newspapers, I _have_ to keep up with stuff like this so I can make sure they get published. Yes, I now get paid to read the obits. hehe Go ahead and think it, my family thinks I’m sick, too. ---
**Author:** ![benthames](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@benthames](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benthames)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/10 "2003-08-06T07:25:07Z")
Doesn’t everyone do that? I thought it was as common as looking in medicine cabinets when you visit someone’s house for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/11 "2003-08-06T11:27:52Z")
I do it too, to see how old the oldest person who died was. Today: Virginia Gott Coughlan, 102, survived by three daughters, 22 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/12 "2003-08-06T11:38:03Z")
I read them occasionally, but only the ones that are long and about old people. I think it’s kind of cool to see someone’s life story, all of the things they did. More than once I’ve come away thinking to myself “Wow, I would have liked to have met that person.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/13 "2003-08-06T13:06:06Z")
Well, do you mean the obits of famous people, or the tiny obits of locals? I rarely read the latter, but I am not known as The Queen of the Dead for nuthin’—I have a four-drawer filing cabinet crammed with obits of show-business people I’ve been collecting since (I shudder to realize) the mid-1960s. I am rather annoyed with the _NY Times_, though; they have been falling down on the job: neither biographer Alexander Walker nor actress Marie Trintignant have gotten obits. The best show-biz obits (since Peter Bart flushed _Variety_ down the terlet) is the monthly publication _Classic Images_, which covers everyone who had any connection with the industry. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/14 "2003-08-06T13:29:33Z")
[hijack] My grandfather reads the obits to gather unusual names that my sister, my cousin and I should not name our potential future children. He will carry them around in his shirt pocket until he can get to his computer and add them to a growing Word document. I checked about a year ago and it was 20 pages then. Just names. Bizarre. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/15 "2003-08-06T13:40:54Z")
I like reading them to find out HOW the people died. I also take my kids graveyard hopping! We (or I) love to read headstones. On another note I told my ex that when he died he wouln’t be in the obits he would be under BETTER CITY IMPROVEMENTS! \ ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/16 "2003-08-06T18:49:27Z")
I read them as well, **Baker**. I always check to see if anyone I know has passed on, if anyone has the same last name as I have ( its happened a couple of times.) and to see what age a person is when they pass. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/17 "2003-08-06T19:02:04Z")
I hear it’s the best place to find an apartment, job, used car, furniture… Yes, I got a car that way one time. I needed a car, knew the lady who died, struck up a conversation with her son, and a week later, had a $300 car that lasted 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/18 "2003-08-06T22:33:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **Well, do you mean the obits of famous people, or the tiny obits of locals? I rarely read the latter, but I am not known as The Queen of the Dead for nuthin’—I have a four-drawer filing cabinet crammed with obits of show-business people I’ve been collecting since (I shudder to realize) the mid-1960s.** Eve, do you have Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel , then, the woman I mentioned in the OP as being immortalized by Tom Lehrer in his song “Alma” _Alma, tell us,_ _All modern women are jealous._ _Which of your magical wands_ _Got you Gustav and Walter and Franz?_ ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/19 "2003-08-06T22:47:46Z")
> [@](#): > > My grandfather reads the obits to gather unusual names that my sister, my cousin and I should not name our potential future children. He will carry them around in his shirt pocket until he can get to his computer and add them to a growing Word document. I checked about a year ago and it was 20 pages then. Just names. Bizarre. Thanks Bruce Daddy, now I have rationale for reading the obits. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247/20 "2003-08-06T22:55:43Z")
I usually skim through them as I read the paper. Sadly, the ones that catch my eyes are the young people. ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-read-the-obituaries-of-strangers/193247.md?page=2)