Raptor,

I read the obituaries in my hometown newspaper, and find I learn so much about the community that doesn't come through in the rest of the paper. What is your local newspaper, is it online, and did you run an obituary for your wife? Did you use a photo?

To write an obituary you have to gather your thoughts, and distill what you know and loved about that person into a time capsule that you send out to the world. Sometimes they're the best writing in the paper.

When my father died I used a photo taken at a hoot at his house a few years earlier, because it caught him in an engaged and happy time. My mother was a skilled geneologist, and my sister made sure that her obit included family names and relationships that will speak to generations in the future. Some of the obits that really touch me are those where the woman may look like my mother and have a similar history, or I see the passings-on in the families old friends. And there are also touching memorial notices in the paper. One I took note of recently and sent to a friend who fishes was this one.

SRS