I have been writing obituaries since 1991 with the passing of my grandmother and later when my 17 year old daughter made her transition.
Over the past 25 years I have seen and felt the pain and emotions of families as they try and come to terms with the transition of a loved one. I have worked with families that are on one accord and agree on how the obituary should be written that best described the life of their loved one.
I have worked with families that were so devastated and grief stricken that they simply could not write the obituary and asked me to go through photo albums to select pictures of their loved one and shared stories about their life. Armed with that basic information I am able to create an amazing obituary and months later the families thanked me for doing what they could not do at the time.
I have worked with families where I knew the person who had made their transition and after writing the obituary for their loved one had to wonder who the person was portrayed in the obituary. Because it was a far cry from the life of that person.
Worse yet, are the families that I have written obituaries for that were more concerned with how they were going to pay for the funeral because there was no insurance. Families torn apart because their loved one resided in a morgue because they need donations from the church, friends and family to bury them. I cannot begin to describe the anger and bitterness a family experiences when this happens. I have also seen the ugliness when family members fight over the things, stuff left behind by the person who has passed on simply because they did not plan for the future.
Death knows no age, race, gender or class.
As the world around us becomes more violet, our young people are dying in greater numbers. The loss of a loved one through tragedy, act of violence and accidents occur more frequently than we care to think about. We recognize death is a part of life, so as you make other plans in life, I feel it important enough to say plan for your transition as well. We don’t know the day or the hour, but as surely as we live we also will die.
Life is for the moment, make the best of it, use your voice to speak for yourself and plan ahead of time.
Remember, no one can tell your story better than YOU!