The death of a close person is always a sorrowful incident in anyone’s life. If you have lost your closed one, you may understand how deeply it impacts your life. Losing someone leaves a giant hole in your heart and life which no one can ever fill. It is truly a trying period, and you need more support than ever. So it is natural to place an obituary message in so that you can convey to more people about your loss, as the departed one might also have been dear to them. One of the better ways is to place an obituary ad in the newspaper and online. It allows you to convey to more people about the death of your close person, and they can join you in these saddening times. There is a proper format that you can follow to give out most information without taking a lot of space.

Steps to follow

You can follow the below-mentioned steps to write an effective obituary. The details and length of the obituary depend on you, i.e., how much you want to tell and how much you want to spend.

• Decide the details- The first step is to decide how much information you want to give about the departed soul, for example, their educational background, business, etc. It depends on how much space do you want to give to the obituary in the newspaper.
• Announcement- Then, start by announcing the passing away of the person. Ideally, it should take just a single sentence to include basic information and the date of the death.
• Cause of death- If you want, you can also mention the cause of their death. It is entirely optional and depends on whether you want to tell it or not.
• Basic information- If you have booked a sizable space in the newspaper, you can write more about their life and their impact on the people around them. You can write about their education, business, achievements, charities, etc., to enlighten people more about them.
• A personal message- Since they were close to you and your heart, you can pour your heart out while writing this section. You can write about hobbies, interests, good deeds, and the effect that they have left in your life. Also, you can write their favorite quote from their favorite book, a movie, or a religious book they followed.
• Family- You can list out their close family members like siblings, children, parents, cousins, etc. It is better to name out only the immediate family members and use collective terms for other relatives.
• Details of the funeral- You can write the details about the funeral service, like the location and the time. It will help people to reach and give you their condolences personally.
• Charity- If you have started a charity by the name of the departed or want to encourage people to donate, you can also include that in your obituary message. It will help in raising funds for an important cause.

As it is a delicate time for you, handling it alone is not a good option. You need to grieve the death to pull yourself together. So take the help of others while writing the obituary and before you place it in the newspaper or the internet, make sure that someone proofreads it. The best person for this job is someone not too close, as they can check it carefully. If they find it good, send it for publication.