Q&A for How to Write an Obituary

An obituary is a public call to say that someone has died. It's a big event when someone in your life dies, and it helps to have people acknowledge that.

The simpler said the better, "Twice widowed, she is preceded in death by (name) and (name)."

Just use her maiden name. Former spouses can be mentioned by any surviving children of the marriages if they want to do so.

An obituary for a suicide death rarely states the cause of death explicitly. Instead, it may mention the person's lifelong struggles with depression, mental illness, addiction, etc. or simply request that donations be made to an appropriate charity.

"Toward the latter part of her life, she was blessed to have the company of her two generations of nieces and nephews."

Find an image shrinking or compression website and specify a size (in pixels) that you want it to be reduced to. Pixlr or similar should work, or you could use a proper program such as Photoshop. More detailed help can be found at: How to Shrink a Picture and/or How to Resize Digital Photos and/or How to Resize a JPEG .

No. If a mistake is made, a correction can be issued or amended to the original obituary.

Example: "She is preceded in death by her younger sisters Vannesa and Hilda Fieldman, and her beloved niece, Carol Egan."

List her in the "survived by" sentence.

No, but, generally speaking, obituaries list the names and locations of immediate family.

Typically, only the deceased is in the photograph. If the spouse is also deceased, sometimes obituary photographs will show them both. If the spouse is still living, it is best to only include them in the obituary photograph if he or she, and other close family members, really want it. Also, be sure to make it clear in the obituary text that the spouse has "survived" the deceased.

Obituaries are published in the newspaper of the town in or near which the death occurred. They are found on the newspaper's website, too. They are also on funeral home websites and death tribute websites like Legacy.com and FindAGrave.

Yes. After the announcement of their death you could say, "[Name] was born on June 15, 1942 to [father's name] and [mother's name].

Assuming you're still alive, you don't have an obituary yet. When you do die, your obituary will be published online and in local newspapers.

When it says they died "unexpectedly", it means they died without prior warning. Perhaps they suffered a fatal stroke or heart attack or died in a car accident. If someone had terminal cancer and died from it, their obituary wouldn't say "unexpectedly," because their death was expected. Not writing the cause of death could mean they didn't want to reveal it because it's sensitive (perhaps violent or suspicious or they committed suicide). Maybe they just felt the cause of death wasn't important. Perhaps it was simply from natural causes. In rare cases, it might be that they don't know how the person died.

For the fake death announcement, you can try using a fake date of death, possibly far into the future (like several years after today). It can be random, or if you want it to be really unfortunate, write that you died on a favorite day such as your birthday or your favorite holiday. Write the rest of it like a normal obituary but it describes you. Think of your favorite activities, what you loved doing the most, what you want people to remember you for. For the funeral service part, you can write what you want your loved ones to do for you when your actual death arrives. When you actually die, your loved ones might publish the obituary that you wrote yourself.

If you can't find out how they died, just write "[Name] passed away unexpectedly." You could add "after a short illness" if they had health problems. There are many obituaries where the cause of death is not mentioned.

Write about them the same as a normal obituary, except without revealing certain personal information. Talk about their hobbies, interests, personality, and what they meant to their loved ones. You may want to skip mention of a funeral service (unless there's one online) as well as the "survived by" and "predeceased by" sentences unless you use pseudonyms or don't reveal their names at all.

Then you don't mention the cause of death. Just say, "[Name] passed away suddenly."

You could spend more time writing about their achievements and significant events in their life, and you can throw in some stories or anecdotes that you think are meaningful. If you're having this obituary printed in the newspaper, keep in mind that this could be pricey if it takes up a whole page, since many newspapers charge by how many inches your writing takes up on the physical paper.

This is completely up to you. If you think your relationships and the other people were a significant part of your life, you may feel like it's best to mention them.

They would either be the deceased's son-in-law or daughter-in-law. You could also simply write them as "spouse of [name]." For example, "John is survived by his son Joe and his daughter-in-law Jane" or "John is survived by his son Joe and his wife Jane."

Try to ask someone who knew the person or who was there when they died, such as a family member. If you cannot do that, you could ask to see the recorded date of death on a public register.

Maybe write: At the celebration of [Name's] life, black clothing is not required. [Name] wanted everyone to wear colors.