Obituary Template

The facts, the story, and three ready-to-fill versions.

Planning your own farewell? Write it now, in your own words, while it is easy. Your family will only need to add the date and the service details. It is one of the kindest things you can leave.

Planning for someone you love? You do not have to write it alone or from nothing. Gather the facts, pick the length you need, and fill in the blanks. The funeral home can help with the rest.

What an obituary is for

It tells people someone has died, when and where the celebration will be, and who they were. It is not a résumé. The best ones are short on titles and long on one good story. It is also not required. Many families publish only a short notice and put the story on a memorial page or in the program.

Gather the facts first

Full name and the name they went by. Age. Date and city of death. Date and place of birth. Parents. Spouse or partner, and the year they married. Children, grandchildren, siblings. Family who died before them. Close friends, caregivers, a pet, if you want to name them. Ask a second family member to check every spelling.

Then answer four questions

1. What did they do? School, work, service, faith, the thing they were known for.
2. What did they love? Hobbies, places, teams, food, music.
3. What was it like to be around them? One story is better than five adjectives.
4. What did they always say?

Pick a length

Short notice, about 75 words. For a newspaper that charges by the line. Name, age, city, date of death, birth, immediate family, service, memorial donations.

Standard, about 250 words. For most newspapers and funeral home sites. Adds where they grew up, what they did, one paragraph about who they were, the full list of survivors, and thanks to caregivers.

Full life story, 400 to 600 words. For an online memorial page or the program. Early life, work, family, what they loved, what they were like, and a closing line.

The template has all three as fill-in-the-blank text.

An example, so you can see the shape

This person is invented. Use it for the shape only.

Margaret "Peggy" Halloran, 84, of Lakeland, died Tuesday, March 3, at home, with her daughters beside her and the radio on.

Peggy was born August 9, 1941, in Youngstown, Ohio, the second of five children. She trained as a nurse at St. Elizabeth's and spent thirty-one years on the night shift in labor and delivery, where, by her own count, she helped bring more than four thousand babies into the world and remembered an alarming number of their names.

She married Frank Halloran in 1963 after he asked her to dance three times and she said no twice. They moved to Florida in 1979 for the weather and stayed for the fishing. Peggy grew tomatoes that won the county fair four years running and never told anyone the secret, which her daughters now believe was fish heads.

She was preceded in death by Frank in 2019 and by her brother James. She is survived by her daughters, Anne Halloran Ruiz (Carlos) and Kathleen Halloran; her grandchildren, Sofia, Daniel, and Rose; her sisters, Joan and Theresa; and her dog, Biscuit, who is taking it hard.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, March 14, at 2 p.m. at Lake Mirror Park, Lakeland. Wear something yellow. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Lakeland Regional Health neonatal unit, or plant a tomato.

The family thanks the nurses of Cornerstone Hospice, who took care of one of their own.

Peggy's last instruction was "Don't make a fuss." We are ignoring it.

Before you send it

• Every name spelled correctly, checked by a second person.
• Dates checked against a document.
• Read aloud once by someone who did not write it.
• A clear, recent photo, high resolution, not a group shot cropped down.
• Call the newspaper for price, deadline, and word limit. Most charge by the line. The funeral home often submits it for you.
• Confirm service details with the venue before publishing.

A word on privacy

An obituary is public forever. Leave out the full street address and, if you can, the exact birth date. Give the mother's maiden name only if the family wants it published, since it is a common security question. If the service time is public, ask a neighbor to be at the house during the service. Common-sense steps, not legal advice.

Writing your own

If you are planning ahead, write it in the first person or the third, whichever feels right. Answer six prompts: how you want to be described in one sentence, the three things you are proudest of, the people you want named, the story you want told, what you want people to do instead of sending flowers, and the line you want at the end. Leave the date and the service blank. Keep it with your plan and tell one person where it is.

Preview the template

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Find help near you

Funeral homes handle newspaper submission every day, and a Celebration of Life Planner can help you write it. Find Funeral Homes or Find Celebration of Life Planners