LETTER

How to publish an obituary 

This is probably not going to make your editorial letters pages but I think you should know this.  A brother-in-law here died several months ago.  I was only on the margins of all the formalities – opening a special bank account, tracking down the notary and will, dealing with another lawyer over an “extra-family personal matter”, ownership of a new car, not to mention the funeral /cremation itself, the memorial service, and so on.  What I want you to know is that one of the big issues was the obituary.  My unrequested advice was “just put it in the Bulletin; they edit it and make it look good.”  But, no. The modern alternative, I learned, is to spend a good deal of two weeks back and forth getting the wording just right for a Facebook obituary posting. And then fifty messages back and forth about the correct photo.  ... but it was all “free”.  Go figure.

Andy Black, 

Aylmer