While driving in my car recently and listening to Public Radio, I heard a commentator admit that she was addicted to reading the obituaries in the daily newspaper. I was encouraged to learn that I am not the only one.
While some might find it morbid, I am informed and inspired and sometimes amused by the daily obituary section. There is an art to writing obituary notices. How do you capture the essence of an individual’s life in a notice of several paragraphs?
How about this flowery epitaph from the April 14, 1835, issue of The Christian Index:
“Departed this life on the tenth day of March in the 24th year of his age, Cyrus King, son of Elisha King of Baldwin County. In the death of this young man, society has lost a worthy member; a numerous train of friends and connections, with a disconsolate widow and little orphan are left to mourn their irreparable loss, yet ‘they mourn not as those who have no hope.’ In 1833 young Cyrus was united in the honorable state of matrimony to Miss Minerva Palmer, (daughter of Israel Palmer, Esq. Hancock County,) though not wealthy, yet quite above penury and want, all tranquil and happy in each other’s affections, surrounded by kind friends, promising themselves great happiness in future life. But he that seeth not as man seeth, determined otherwise. In the fall of 1834 he set to his seal that God was true. He made a public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and united with the Baptist church in Milledgeville, and has ever since by a well ordered life and godly conversation, evinced to the World that he was born of God, and that there was a reality in the religion which he professed…”
They don’t write them like that anymore, but I have been pleased that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has improved its handling of obituaries in recent years. While many of the obits are simply statements of time and place of death, time and place of funeral and list of survivors, they are now allowing families to submit obituaries that go into more detail about the life and influence of the deceased. They charge extra for photos, but that always draws the eye to the obituary.
Sometimes I notice the photo of a young man and figure it is a sad occasion that someone has died at such an early age. Then I read the obituary and notice that the deceased was 80 or 90 years old and the photo was obviously almost that old. I guess either the deceased wanted to be remembered as he looked when his body was at its peak or perhaps he had not had any new photos taken in years!
Obituaries can be so inspiring that you wish you had the opportunity to know the individual personally. I read of all the interesting things they did in their lives and I wonder about all they saw and experienced. I mourn for the family when I read of young children who die unexpectedly or teenagers who are killed in auto accidents.
The thing about obituaries is that space limits their ability to tell the full story. They always peak the curiosity and stir the imagination of creative readers.
So, if you never read the obituaries except when you are looking for someone you know, you are missing out on a wonderfully inspiring experience. It will not only remind you of your own immortality but challenge you to live a life befitting a good ending obituary.
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Neal is editor of The Christian Index, newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention