Go to Obituaries

Introduction

Obituaries are published notices of someone's death. They commonly appear as a section or page in a newspaper, and are usually written by relatives or someone very close to the deceased. They contain such information as the time and cause of a person's demise, a list of the dead person's surviving relatives, and information regarding funeral arrangements.

Obituaries are a way of rounding people up, who have a stake in the dead person's life, for mutual support and commiseration. They provide a means of getting long lost friends and estranged relatives together to share their ideas about what the dead person meant to them... a last chance for them to make sense of their relationship to the deceased and those that he or she left behind.

Another function of an obituary is to announce the passing of someone who has influenced the lives of a great many strangers. Circumstances sometimes permit an individual to reach far beyond their circle of relatives, friends and aquaintances, and touch the lives of people they will never meet... in ways that are sometimes very profound. We call them 'celebrities'; we say they are 'famous'. When such a person dies, it is common for people to pause and consider how their own lives have been affected by the life and work of the departed. At such a moment, it may occur to a person for the first time that such a one will be missed.

The H2G2 Obituary Page is a place where Researchers can say,

'This person meant something to me... here's why...'

How to contribute

Researchers can contribute obituaries by posting their own compositions in the Obituary Page forums.

• Please try to keep your submissions brief. It is necessary for each entry to be as concise as possible due to the very large number of dead people we may wish to remember.

• The deceased need not have been famous. You may commemorate anyone you wish.

• Fictional people never really die; so they don't need obituaries.

• Please don't improvise information. That is a little disrepectful, and may lead to confusion.

• Contributors will be credited as 'Related Researchers'.

Go to Obituaries