Obituary
LegalWills.ca
is dedicated to providing services related to advance directives
prior to one's death, including our MyFuneral™ service,
which allows people to specify in advance their funeral wishes and preferences for
an obituary. These wishes will be communicated to a personal "Keyholder®",
chosen by the member, when the time is right. Below are some questions and
answers regarding obituaries.
What exactly is an obituary?
Obituaries vary from the very classic summation of a person's life, including
just the simple facts in chronological order, but could equally be a poetic celebration
of an individual's contribution to everyone's life around them. An obituary
is usually written in paragraph form and will typically chart a person's life, including
the place and date of birth, education and professional experience.
Most obituaries appear as a newspaper obituary in a local or national newspaper.
However, there are also online obituaries available, such as the
MyLife and MyMemorials services at PartingWishes.com.
How is an obituary written?
You can either write the obituary yourself, or you can appoint somebody else
to write it. If it is written by somebody else, it will usually be a tribute
to how you impacted the lives of your friends and loved ones. It will celebrate
your life and mourn your passing. If it is written by yourself, you can include
an account of your life, paying tribute to those who have touched you. You
can write whatever is important to you, but there may be restrictions on the length
of the obituary based on the publication that you choose. The obituary should
be published a few days before the memorial service as it should include details
of the time and location of the service and any donations that may be made.
If you need inspiration for your obituary, take a look at obituaries online or
in national newspapers like the New York Times, the Times of London or the Globe
and Mail.
What will be included in my obituary?
An obituary typically includes the following sections in order:
- An announcement, including the deceased's name, date and location of death
and possibly the cause of death. If you do not want this to be included,
and you have chosen somebody else other than yourself to write the obituary,
state here that you would not like the cause of death to be included.
- Biographical information, including birthplace, education, profession, hobbies
together with accomplishments and awards.
- Survivor information, including spouse, parents and children and any other
close friends and relatives.
- If written by an appointed person, they should include any details of the
funeral service including the time and location.
- You can also state that contributions may be made to an organization of
your choice rather than sending flowers.
Where should the obituary be published?
This is a personal decision, but you should consider sending the obituary to
newspapers in other cities where you have lived or grown up. You can also
make use of the MyLife and MyMemorials services at
PartingWishes.com
to publish a permanent obituary and memorial.
What is the cost of an obituary?
It may be worth considering that if you are choosing to have the obituary published
in one or a number of newspapers, most newspapers charge by the word or by the line.
This may influence the length of your tribute.
How do I specify what I would like in my own obituary?
The MyFuneral™ wizard here at
LegalWills.ca
includes questions regarding where you would like your obituary to be published,
and who you would like to create this obituary. You can even write your complete
obituary yourself, or just specify points that you would like to be included.
Your wishes will be communicated to a personal "Keyholder®", chosen by yourself,
when the time is right.
You may feel that writing your own obituary is a rather macabre task, however,
it is often overlooked as a part of funeral pre-planning. By taking care of
it yourself, you relieve a loved one of another difficult task imposed on them at
a distressing time. By writing it yourself, you can stamp your personality
on the celebration of your life.
How do I create an online obituary?
You can create your own personal permanent online tribute at
PartingWishes.com
using the MyLife service. This will be a permanent
online obituary which will celebrate your life for a specified number of years,
or even until the end of time if you so choose, thus providing you with a form of
immortality on the Internet. This web page will become part of our database
archive which your family or the public could search and view for years to come.
You can also use the MyMemorials services at PartingWishes.com
to create an online memorial for a friend or loved one that has passed away.
Include photos, thoughts, memories, accomplishments, or anything else you'd like
them to be remembered by.
These are incredible ways to create a lasting memorial and tribute to a person's
life. An opportunity for future generations to read, see, hear and learn
about how they lived and how important they were to their family, to their friends,
and to their community.
Want to create an online memorial for
a family Pet? Visit www.ILovedMyPet.com