In this case the deed is done, and the correction added in the obituary section. And, as many of you suggest, the funereal director is the one who placed it, after the obit was written by the family.

For genealogical reasons I do appreciate that a number of items should be included. When my mom died I included the date, year, city and state, who the parents were, and cause of death.

Several yellowed old newspaper clippings in my genealogy files from the teens and twenties tell of the deaths of lesser known family members - they say "Joe Blow was killed in a mine accident last Thursday..." no month, date, or year ! And the newspaper heading with the clipping was not included. It drives you crazy because you can only guestimate when the person died and was buried.

I can imagine that in the eastern United States the counties are much more important than here in the west. The towns are fewer and farther apart here, so a mention of the town is usually all that you see in the obits.

Stilly River Sage - that's interesting about various areas not wanting to include the cause of death - I can sort of understand it, but it's sure nice to have the basic info to construct a family medical history for yourself or your kids, etc.

I find that where the most errors are made are in the death certificates - both for cause of death, which is sometimes guessed at by the official filling it out, and for maiden names of the deceased's mother, etc. When an elderly grieving spouse or sibling is under pressure to supply little-known family info there is often some real misinformation that gets into the so-called "official" record. One such certificate has led to some real inaccuracies in one side of my family tree - and some zealous genalogist has picked it up and published it on the web !

Anyway, it's interesting to hear how others deal with this. The great thing is, when we go, we don't have to worry a damn about it ! :)