Obituaries are changing thanks to New Media
I grew up in a small Ontario town surrounded by forests and a lake. The town had one Main Street with the only street light (I think they have four now) in front of the post office. Right next to the PO's clock tower was the town's weekly newspaper. the Renfrew Mercury.
Since it only published on Thursdays, a lot of news didn't make it into Thursday's edition, most notably death notices. Because someone might die on a Friday and be buried on Tuesday, no obituary would be printed, and people in town might miss the funeral (and that was always a big deal).
So what the paper did was to stick up obituary notices in the front window so that on your way to the post office, you could check who had died and when the funeral and burial would take place. The lads (what male seniors were called) would gather in front of the window at 10 am to watch Norm, the editor, stick a written notice out towards the street for all to see.
death notices in the Renfrew Mercury's front window (left)
This was back in 1967, and those notices were the closest things to Twitter you might imagine. The lads at the window would congratulate each other for surviving another day! "I am not on Norm's board; I must be alive!" was a common saying.
Time passed, and when I started work in the early 70s as a news announcer at Windsor commercial radio station CKWW (not CKLW, the BIG 8), we would end the noon news every day by reading out the obituaries provided by Windsor funeral homes. I was really good at reading the funeral news. It was a big audience draw, almost as many people listened to me read the obits and those who listened to me read the results from the 8th race of the evening at the Windsor Race Track on the 11 am news.
Most newspapers still carry obituaries to this day. They make a lot of money and attract readership—people buy the Saturday paper to read the obits (they are traditionally published on Saturdays). There is a format to obits. There is usually a black and white photo of the recently departed and the date of that person's death. In the case of female deaths, the woman's maiden name is included in the top line in bold type.
In the text, the cause and location of death are often listed especially when the person died in hospital with their family holding hands. Having a heart attack on a golf course or dying while running a marathon are never-miss items for the obit (dying on the golf course, especially at the 18th hole, is a winning bit), but if the person committed suicide or had a drug overdose, the obituary starts by saying the passing was "sudden." I didn't make this week's Toronto Star
Next is listing the birthplace. In my day, if someone had been born in Germany during the war, the birthplace was left out. If the person had been in a concentration camp, that is mentioned near the top of the obit along with the country of birth (mention of Germany is allowed). Next? All the relatives starting with spouses and parents, followed by children as well as any well-known cousins and friends are listed. If a person has been married a few times and has several last names, those are mentioned. Many obits don't carry the names of former husbands and wives at the request of the next of kin. As we have discussed in this class, pets are very important to some people in the 21st century. Even though former husbands don't make the page, the deceased person's furry friends are usually listed, as are the medical staff who might have cared for them in their last days. Usually, the person's profession is mentioned, or their place of worship, or the charities they volunteered at. In the old days, yes, (the 60s again), logos and crests from where the person worked appeared on the top of the obituary above the picture. Veterans, police officers, and firefighters still usually put a crest on their obituary. I have posted a sample crest from the CAF.
The last section of the obituary is the Who, What, Why, and Where of the whole affair. Is there a burial? Is there a funeral? Can you bring flowers? Where will the reception be held? Where can people donate in memory of the departed? If it is a cremation, will there be an event at a later date to mark the passing?
Of course, each obituary is different. Some will mention the deceased person's favourites, like the Maple Leafs or dinner at the now-gone Tunnel BBQ.
The classic obit I described has gone through many changes, often because of privacy issues. When one lists the time and location of a funeral service, that gives thieves the time and location to break in.
Because some Christian religions require that bodies be buried in consecrated ground, news of cremation was never included...that has changed in the new era. News of where the person worked is not usually included unless the deceased had an impressive CV (and usually that obit was also run in the Toronto Globe and Mail because that is what successful people do in this era).
But many, many people no longer pay to publish an obit. Depending on the length and the size of the photo, it can cost $5K for one insertion, and usually, you put it in twice.
Now in the new media days, people are using Facebook and Twitter to announce the passing of a person. It usually isn't formatted like a print obit. Instead, it is very personal—"The Angels Have Called Mom to be With Dad in Heaven" is what the last one I read said. We, the readers, are expected to send personal notes, weeping emojis, and happy pictures of the deceased.
Some of the obituaries read more like a pitch: the family needs money to ship the body back home, or a PayPal is set up to establish a college fund in the person's name.
Privacy is very much in mind when people post death news on social media. The big worry is that what they are reading, is fake news—if I had a dollar for every tweet I got telling me that Ringo Starr or Trump had died, I would be able to buy my weight in Bitcoins!I have never seen a TikTok obit, but I probably don't want to watch a dog guarding a tombstone or people singing and dancing to the deceased person's favorite tunes.
This article was something I recently wrote and posted on my New Media class Brightspace at Windsor University early this month. Don't think any of my young classmates read it. Do hope they read my Obituary when it gets written (hopefully not for a longtime yet)
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