Do you read obituaries? / Another one bites the dust

Chet

Chet

Well-known Member
Location
PA, USA
I quit reading them because I was seeing too many people I knew. I subscribed to a new newspaper, and while reading the first today, sure enough I found a high school classmate. Because the paper was new to me, I wanted to read it all. Big mistake.
 

Online obituaries are almost the only connection I have to a city I lived in for years.

It seems like the cost is prohibitive or a turn off for many. When I hear that someone died and there was no notice of it, I wonder why.

A neighbour read every word of anyone’s obituary; she enjoyed learning little bits of someone else’s life. When she died, her husband didn’t post one for her. It certainly wasn’t for lack of money.
 

No, I don't... not any longer, and for the same reason you mentioned. I was with the high school graduating class of '75 and there started being way too many names I recognized much too early... we're still only 65, and so many are already gone. It's also bad in Facebook where I (maybe foolishly) joined my class group hoping to reconnect and see what everyone's doing now, etc. But instead of people actually talking, the only time there's a notification, I automatically think "crap, who died now?" And 100% of the time, that's what the notification is about. Probably should just leave the group. :cry: @Chet
 
My sister who was three years older always kept me informed of the goings-on in the old hometown. Now she is gone as are many of my classmates. I guess I could check out the local newspaper but I'm not sure I want to.
 
For me obituaries of people I grew up with reinforces the fact I too am 'getting up there' :unsure: 😃For example when Barabara Walters recently died. I considered the fact that I did not know a world w/o her. I just like to imagine a great reunion in the sky and think about seeing all the fabulous people I have ever known...🥰 Then again..as I have said before if that does not happen I will never know..🙃
 
No, for two reasons. I grew up and lived in Massachusetts till my 20s, but I moved to my present home, in PA in 1990s. So, I don't know the people in my age group, who are passing in PA. Plus I stopped getting the paper. But I never read them when I was getting it.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
No, for two reasons. I grew up and lived in Massachusetts till my 20s, but I moved to my present home, in PA in 1990s. So, I don't know the people in my age group, who are passing in PA. Plus I stopped getting the paper. But I never read them when I was getting it.
Click to expand...
Funny, I grew up in Mass until 19 then moved to my present home NC in the 1990s.
I read the obits to see if any of my former patients have died. You lose a lot in my former profession.
 
Who needs obituaries? Just come onto the forum every other day and learn that another well beloved celebrity has passed away. As if this bit of uplifting news needs to be shared. I swear people only know how to make themselves depressed.

Obits were published in the paper so that you could attend the viewing/funeral back when people stayed in the same area all their lives. When my mother was laid out in 1970, there was a line a city block long all evening of people coming to see her for the last time. That served a purpose. People could say their goodbyes and the family in grieving got to forget their grief for the night and revel in the number of people who's lives were touched by the deceased.

More recently I attended a viewing that was a box containing ashes of the deceased. Not the same feeling of saying goodbye that you get when you ponder the face of the deceased for the last time as they lay in casket with their eyes closed. Instead it felt like the family couldn't get rid of the deceased fast enough. I didn't care for it.
 
Chet said:
I quit reading them because I was seeing too many people I knew. I subscribed to a new newspaper, and while reading the first today, sure enough I found a high school classmate. Because the paper was new to me, I wanted to read it all. Big mistake.
Click to expand...
My mother would occasionally read it. She knew so many who died only in their 50's early 60's
 
OldFeller said:
Who needs obituaries? Just come onto the forum every other day and learn that another well beloved celebrity has passed away. As if this bit of uplifting news needs to be shared. I swear people only know how to make themselves depressed.

Obits were published in the paper so that you could attend the viewing/funeral back when people stayed in the same area all their lives. When my mother was laid out in 1970, there was a line a city block long all evening of people coming to see her for the last time. That served a purpose. People could say their goodbyes and the family in grieving got to forget their grief for the night and revel in the number of people who's lives were touched by the deceased.

More recently I attended a viewing that was a box containing ashes of the deceased. Not the same feeling of saying goodbye that you get when you ponder the face of the deceased for the last time as they lay in casket with their eyes closed. Instead it felt like the family couldn't get rid of the deceased fast enough. I didn't care for it.
Click to expand...
Well, that's one way to look at it. There is really no "nice" or "pleasant" or "uplifting" way to say somebody passed away.
It reminds me of attending a funeral & staying for the burial. There is no pleasant way to throw a bunch of dirt on someone, either.
 
My maternal grandfather was a hypochondriac. He'd read the obits every day eagerly.

He knew practically everyone and back then, they almost always printed what someone died of.

He'd see an acquaintance's obit and immediately get the appropriate symptoms. Cancer? Pains in the side. Heart attack? Palpitations. Stroke? Bad headache.

Off to the doctor he'd go.
 
I remember growing up my Dad would read the Death Column in the papers and say So and So has died ..
Now im doing the same , I look to see if anyone from the Village I moved from as died .
Theres not that many old ones left alive now , and as the numbers decrease you know it wont be long before someone says it about me ..
 
I don’t get, or read, newspapers.

I moved across the world in my late teens and haven’t had contact with my classmates for about 40 years, so I have no idea which of them have died.

I’m on social media and so I’m kept well informed of deaths and funeral arrangements of folks I know. I have friends on fb from all over the world so even if the service is way too far for me to attend, at least I know.

Most of those funeral announcement posts come with an online obituary from the funeral home so I can offer support, send flowers, leave a bereavement note through the online portal, as well as contacting the loved ones through Facebook.
 
Nope but my wife does. I get occasional reports through her. I guess a good day of obit-reading is when every death recorded occurred at an age beyond what one has reached himself.

We get the daily SF Chronicle and NYT on Fri - Sun but I rarely open one up anymore. If it were my call alone we’d get nothing but online access which I’d still mostly ignore.
 
As I've no longer a fireplace, I've given up the newspaper subscription. No more need to make newspaper logs lol!

Instead, I peruse the Legacy dot com videos on YouTube to find out about celebrities who passed away. Mostly surprised to find out their real ages. I get news from BBC's website, no accumulated papers, trees saved, no fuss.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top