I was reading this obituary I came across online, (from a newspaper) and it reads,
I am reading it as June Smedley died. She was the mother of Patricia, Chris, Nicholas and Judy.
It looks like Judy got married and changed her name to Forester. OK fine. And Chris is either a male or an unmarried female.
My question is what is JASON and why is it in parentheses?
Jason is her husband.
It means that Patricia White is married to Jason. It’s a way to acknowledge the relationship between the decedent and her children-in-law in the slightest possible space. Many newspapers charge by the line on obituaries.
ETA: Stop typing faster than me, SurlyChick!
Guess the Bin Ladens are screwed then.
NM
I think it’s fairly traditional for the paper to list them that way, even when they don’t charge for the obit. Although it might have become standard because of charges. I don’t know. As for Judy, she’s probably divorced. If she were a widow, it likely would have said ‘Judy (the late Fred) Forester’. Gives everybody the connections without having to string it out.
Thanks, I don’t recall ever reading an obit written like that before.
I’m just less verbose. 
Never seen that before (although I don’t read obits much). I’d have read that as meaning that Patricia was born as a man, man. 
I’ve noticed that areas of the country write obits differently. I grew up in Chicago, and the obit posted by the OP was all I ever saw until I moved to Wisconsin, where things were written differently. Now in southern Illinois, people are called home to Jesus, have dogs and cats listed, along with hobbies, friends, and every job since they were 12. It’s not good, nor bad, just common to the area in which I live. When I die, my obituary in the Chicago Tribune will be like the one in the original post, but mine down here will be folksier.
Maybe I read too many obits for a 29 year old, but this is how I’ve always seen it done.
In the older times, Patricia would have been listed as Mrs. Jason White. A style which makes tracking down details about female ancestors via obits very annoying!
Let me guess, you grew up in Sunnydale?
I’ve only noticed that change recently in these parts. Is it really that difficult to list the relationship of each person named? If they don’t want the construct of “and his/her husband/wife/spouse/partner” following each child’s name, they could just put “son-in-law Jason White” or whatever.
It may be more regional that I realized. It’s pretty much all I’ve seen, but then I’ve lived here nearly my whole life. I do wish they’d list grandchildren with the children, rather than in a group after.
The ones with all the jobs and hobbies are a lot more fun to read, that’s for sure.
The school paper was kind of depressing, but I did usually go straight to the obits.
Those little bulletin-style obituaries are actually written by the funeral homes and placed in the paper like a classified ad. Over the years they’ve come up with their own set of code words.
Fortified with the sacrements of Holy Mother Church - Catholic
Called to Jesus - fundamentalist Protestant
Asleep in Jesus - non-specific Protestant
Entered into eternal rest - Jewish, or family didn’t want to mentin religion
Died peacefully - it was expected
Died suddenly - it wasn’t expected
Some families want the whole treatment, including listing grandkids, pets, all the clubs the deceased belong to, etc. Occasionally the family actually does write the obituary notice themselves, and those are the more folksy ones you see. But most of the time they just give the funeral director basic information.
I have a copy of my husband’s grandmother’s obituary from a south side Chicago paper in 1941. The daughters are listed as Mrs. Christian Name - Last Name, although none were divorced. My great grandfather’s obituary in the Chicago Tribune in 1934 lists his daughter as Christian Name - Last Name (not even with a Mrs.) but his sister as Mrs. Husband’s Name - Last Name. Spouses of the children aren’t listed at all.
Typically the mortuary will offer to post the funeral notice for the bereaved family, and pass through the charge to them (mortuaries get a 15% discount from the paper and charge the family at full rate, in my market). Or the family can take care of it for themselves. If the mortuary does it, they will include whatever facts and people the family wants to include, but the style will tend to be more uniform. If the family does it, that’s when you might get some rather unusual stylistic variations.
Maybe some newspapers are more restrictive than others. We pretty much allow anything that isn’t defamatory, libelous or in “bad taste” (whatever that is; it’s not usually a problem).
Roddy
That’s what we did when we wrote my mother’s obituary. We even put in the hometowns of the surviving family members.
It had to be done right - my mother was a stickler for clear, concise writing with proper grammar and spelling, as are the obituary writers. I’ve always disliked the parenthetical significant others format.