EDITOR’S NOTE: Obituaries tell of people but also of culture and we may add them

Obituaries are more than the notice of passing and a chronicle, sometimes brief, of a life.

They give us the arc of a person’s time on Earth.

Sometimes, they share poignant details that make us wish we knew the person.

And they often carry measures of the love, in word, of those who survive.

Janice Hume, a professor at the University of Georgia, researched obituaries in the U.S. and put her findings into a book.

“An obituary distills the essence of a citizen’s life, and because it is a commemoration as well as a life chronicle, it reflects what society values and wants to remember about that person’s history,” she writes in Obituaries in American Culture.

As editor of Salem Reporter, I’ve been mulling whether to include obituaries.

Help me decide.

As print newspapers fade, the day of clipping an obituary for a scrapbook are fading. There are fewer newspapers and the costs for such obituaries have hit eyebrow-raising levels.

Along with so many news features, obituaries are migrating to the web.

The advantage of a digital obit for the relatives is apparent – more people know of the passing and maybe learn of a funeral to attend. They can be more readily shared electronically. And they are easier to find online.
I wondered about the history of obituaries as I considered what Salem Reporter should do.

Many sources trace them back to the time of the Romans and Hume advised me in an email that death notices can be traced to colonial times in the U.S. In her research, she reviewed 8,000 obituaries.

“An obit is a news story about a death, but it is also a little synopsis of what we want to remember about someone’s life,” she said in her email. “For most people, the attributes and accomplishments remembered in an obit represent an ideal, and that ideal has changed dramatically over time.”

“In the early 19^th century, for example, men were remembered for being patriotic, brave, gallant and bold. Women were remembered for being patient, resigned, obedient and affectionate,” she said. “Can you imagine a woman in 2023 being remembered for being obedient?”

Hume found interesting changes when she examined comments people left for online obituaries.

“Sources for and authors of old-fashioned print obits were usually family members or journalists working under the journalistic norms of the day. All kinds of other people post remembrances via an online obituary – childhood friends, neighbors, distant relatives, co-workers. All have stories to tell that would never have been included in print,” Hume said. “People send messages to the deceased in online tributes – again, something that would never have happened in a traditional obituary.”

As a young reporter in Salem many years ago, I had a hand in writing those print obits. It seemed a chore, until I realized how important they were to people.

And that’s why I’m thinking of adding them to Salem Reporter’s website.

We would partner with a national company to set up the obituary site. Local funeral homes could post their notices and obituaries.

But relatives, too, could craft their own obituaries and see them published. We would assess a flat fee, but leave it to families to write as much or as little, to include as many photos as they wanted (within reason). The obituaries could be searched by name or even affiliation, such as North Salem High School or Willamette University.

This would add one more dimension to Salem Reporter’s connection to the community.

So, Salem, what do you think? Should we proceed or not? Share your counsel in an email to me at [email protected] by Monday, Feb. 6.

I’ll share the results and our decision once I hear from you.

Contact Editor Les Zaitz: [email protected].

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