Why is Creating an Obituary Important for Your Loved One?

When a loved one dies, we arrange funeral and memorial services to celebrate and honor their life. Beyond these services, the memories we have of them, as well any objects, assets and family members they may leave behind, it may feel difficult to hold onto and remember their legacy. Obituaries are crucial to your deceased love’s one legacy, helping to remember and tell their life story. We will explore the reasons why obituaries are so vitally important here and why you should make sure that you create one for your deceased loved one. 

What is An Obituary? 

An obituary is a record of someone’s life story, usually only a few paragraphs long. It may include important information of the deceased such as the location they were born, who their parents were, the names of their children they left behind, important accomplishments they made in their lifetime or any contributions they gave to society. A lasting record, it is a special way of remembering a loved one. In the past it was common for obituaries to be printed in newspaper columns and nowadays, it is becoming increasingly popular to create digital obituaries online as permanent tributes for passed loved ones. 

Why Were Obituaries Important in the Past and Why Are They Still Today?

Honoring Community Members

Obituaries were considered a piece of news, informing communities that a member of theirs had recently passed away. It was important for readers to see their loved one’s obituary in the newspaper, as the deceased carried special meaning for that community whether he or she was a friend, classmate, neighbor, work associate, fellow church member etc. Leaving an obituary behind for the decedent in the newspaper enabled social factions and family members to pay homage to that person, remembering them for the important and integral role they played in their community.

Track a Person’s Genealogy and Identify Ancestry

Another vital reason that obituaries are so important is that they offer a method of keeping track of a person’s ancestry and genealogy. By providing pertinent information about a person, including the location that they were born, their parents and children they leave behind, future generations will be able to identify the deceased person’s relation to them as their ancestor, keeping families connected throughout history and into the future. Researching the genealogy of families is becoming more and more popular with websites like ancestry.com and 23andme.com. Families using websites such as these will be able to use obituaries to build their family trees, discover their ancestry and uncover important pieces of their family history.

Keep Permanent Record of Special Memories

While social media offers a platform to post memories and share amongst friends and loved ones, the channels can become cluttered with unnecessary posts and information, leaving crucial elements to disappear down the timeline. Keeping an obituary for a loved one on a website like LifeMemory.com offers a special place away from the rest of the digital noise of the Internet to pay permanent tribute to your loved one. Loved ones and friends of the deceased can then access the obituary of the deceased at any time to remember and look back on to celebrate their life and share in any of their cherished memories.

Visit LifeMemory.com to learn how you can create an obituary for your loved one today.