Do you check obituaries regularly?

applecruncher

applecruncher

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Ohio USA
I don’t get a newspaper, so I just quickly look at the list of online obits, usually everyday. (Never thought I would be one of those people looking to see who has passed on.) Once in a while I’m surprised and saddened to see someone I knew or worked with has died. A few weeks ago I saw an unusual last name I recognized and clicked to read the obituary – it was the son of a former boss…he passed away at 37. Instead of an online condolence I sent his parents a nice card in the mail and wrote a note.

(I just look at the list of names. I don't read every obituary. Sometimes I don't read any - only read if it's someone I know or someone related to a person I know/knew.)
 

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NEVER check those pages, I like to think I'm a normal living person that doesn't care who died that I don't personally know.
 

I have a friend that spreads the word about such things. He will call or e-mail before the paper arrives. Nice guy, but he really involves himself in other people's lives, maybe too much.
 
Yes I do. I started many years ago when I owned a business and we had employees scheduled to go to peoples homes. I did not want our workers to show up and the family had a death. So checking obits became a habit. I still do and hope not to see my friends there.
 
My maternal grandfather was the world's champion hypochondriac. Back then, the newspaper routinely mentioned what the person died of in the obit. He knew just about everyone in town and he'd hit the obits first thing in the morning. Somebody died of stomach cancer and he'd have stomach pains. Brain tumor? Bad headache. Heart attack? Oy vey, what chest pains he had!

In the last 10 years of his life (and that was at least 30 years to my grandmother - lol), he had the "symptoms" of just about every ailment/condition known to medical science. He died in his sleep one night and my grandmother wouldn't allow an autopsy, so we have no idea what he DID die of.

I still think we should have had "I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK!!!" chiseled on his tombstone. My grandmother refused to be buried with him...for some reason....
 
I don't, but when I was young, in my teens, there was a
man from the village who went into the and the Bank staff
were really upset when they saw him, they had closed his
account when they saw his name in the obituary column
of the local paper.

Banking was very new for ordinary people in those days.

The only dead man that I ever saw still walking the street.

Mike.
 
Have quite a number of funeral home obits on my 'favorites'. They are for the area close to where we live and towns where we've resided for a long time during our 50 years of marriage. Yes, I check them every day. Been a habit for quite a few years. Probably began out of boredom. Some can be quite entertaining.

A local businessman passed a few years ago. His obituary was a mirror of his life. It started out with, "Dad always said he didn't want a long obituary. He asked that we simply say, 'Fred's dead!" The closing line was, "In lieu of flowers, please vote Republican." He was a great family man and a super friend to many. Always ready with positive thoughts for any who he met, those last words were quite fitting.

Our community has a large state university. College educators seem to have the longest obituaries. Some can run a full two or three columns. They list every school they've attended, every place they've taught, every paper they've had published, every project they've every worked on, colleges attended by their children and grandchildren and on and on and on. A few weeks ago the widow of a long deceased college prof passed. Her obituary was all about her husband's accomplishments and really said nothing about her.

That's why I don't post much on Senior Forums. Too busy catching up on obituaries!!! :>)
 
A while back I checked my hometown's community newspaper obits and saw that a good high school friend was in there. I don't go there anymore. Another time I Googled an old boyfriend's name and found he had also passed on. Does it do any good to know? Probably not.
 
I know this is an old thread, but lately I've been looking at obituaries in the newspaper in my local area. I don't know why it's become an important thing. Probably because of the Covid, I have become curious about the age groups dying, and if there's a pattern, and if there's an uptick in deaths in my area. They never tell you what they died from, except if they died in hospice, or a cancer ward, or at home, or suddenly, or at the hospital. One thing I have noticed, is that we have (almost weekly) women over 100 years old passing away. Just the other day, a 106-year old woman passed away. It's almost as if I'm living in a Blue Zone! It makes me feel wonderful. At the same time, I'm seeing deaths in the 40-50 age groups, too, and that makes me feel sad. It's a mixture. I usually pray for them all. R.I.P.
 
I used to check my very small home town obits, but since all I knew are gone I don't bother anymore...back when I was a
drunk and moved around a lot, I'd check obits to see where guys who died had worked, never can tell when you would get a job!?!?!?!?:cool:
 
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