Pictures and Obituaries

marianjela · Sep 17, 2008

Originally Posted by Epona

Another interesting one - my brother is a genealogist and I don't think he's ever used an obit (given that many people here don't have one) yet has traced our family ancestry in pretty much its entirety back to the 16th century and one branch back to our arrival in England in the 9th century (from Saxony) using historical records, we have the electoral register available for viewing in libraries, full census information including names and addresses is released after something like 100 years, and the central records office where you can look up birth, marriage, and death certificates for modern records, and predating those we have parish records.

It takes a bit of effort but it is not so difficult here to find your ancestors and modern relatives if your family has been in the country for a few generations, I wonder if that is why we don't place such importance on the obituary?

Oh I'm not saying it cant be done, I have surely had to rely on other sources for familes that werent from around here, or who didnt have obits. But for like my husband's family, where the youngest of 9 had 11 children, and the youngest of that 11 had 8 kids, and so on... yeah his surname is huge in this area. It helped tremendously. Although, that information isnt as reliable as church records and birth records. But it's a start. And since his family pretty much stayed in this area, it was easy to access, even if it cost me tons of quarters!

I have my husbands family traced back to the early 1700's, of course anything past the early 1900's there werent obits to rely on.

Of course at different parts of my research I always wished I lived somewhere else when I was doing it.

Sure would make it more convenient. And dont think I've never been tempted to move to Salt Lake City!

momofmany · Sep 17, 2008

I've been to 2 funerals in the last 6 months. The obits in the paper here usually don't publish pictures, but the funeral homes are going high tech. In both of the services, as you walk into the funeral home, there was a TV monitor set up that scrolled thru pictures of the deceased. The families obviously supplied a lot of pictures that the home scanned and loaded into their slide show software. The slide show lasted about 15 minutes so there were a lot of pictures from throughout their lives.

clixpix · Sep 17, 2008

What I can't figure out is why it bothers you if someone wants to use an older picture?

When your time comes, and you want to use a recent picture, go for it. If someone wants an older picture, why not? Who does it hurt?

rosiemac · Sep 18, 2008

I love how you do your obituaries!. My friend lost his sister who emigrated to Canada over 30 years ago, and i loved how they spoke of her life, i ended up reading all the other obituaries as well because i found them so interesting. Here you just get their age, when they died, where the funeral is and what time. I think where catching on though because my local newspaper now does a more personal obituary online, along with pictures

I'm going to ask if my SS will send me the obits in their local paper now

marianjela · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by Momofmany

...there was a TV monitor set up that scrolled thru pictures of the deceased. The families obviously supplied a lot of pictures that the home scanned and loaded into their slide show software. The slide show lasted about 15 minutes so there were a lot of pictures from throughout their lives.

Wow! I really like that idea! Much easier than trying to throw together and arrange a collage on their magnetic boards.

Even if the home dont have their own monitor, I suppose it wouldnt be hard to take a laptop and set up a slideshow.

Thanks for sharing!

natalie_ca · Sep 18, 2008

I've often wondered that too. However, when someone is eldery and in a hospital or personal care home, and especially when they are sick, pictures are less than flattering.

People want to remember their loved ones in the best possible light, not with bed head, ghostly pallor or gauntness or skin and bone if they were so sick that they were wasting away. So it's understandable that they would want to put in a more flattering picture in the news paper.

Also, it's very expensive to post obituaries, so it comes down to money too. Pictures take up space, and space costs money. So that has to be taken into consideration too.

And then there are cases such as mine. I hate getting my picture taken. The last picture I have of myself was a portrait that I had taken in 2000. Before that the last pictures I have of myself were from the 1980's. So if I were to die tomorrow, there isn't a great deal of choice for pictures of me. It's likely the same with other people too.

alleygirl · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by clixpix

What I can't figure out is why it bothers you if someone wants to use an older picture?

When your time comes, and you want to use a recent picture, go for it. If someone wants an older picture, why not? Who does it hurt?

I don't see anything wrong with it at all. I think they should use whatever picture they want.

rosiemac · Sep 18, 2008

If a picture goes up of me when i'm ready to meet my maker i'll come back and haunt them!!

AbbysMom · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by clixpix

What I can't figure out is why it bothers you if someone wants to use an older picture?

When your time comes, and you want to use a recent picture, go for it. If someone wants an older picture, why not? Who does it hurt?

I don't think anyone that is not close to the person has any right to question a photo used.

It's really such a personal thing and you do not know why that decision was made. Looking through photos is really the last thing you feel like doing hours after a death. I chose a photo of my father from 3 years ago. He didn't look quite as frail in it. Did I choose the "right" photo? Who knows.

It's something we never discussed with him and I don't know if he even wanted a photo in the paper, but I decided I wanted it in there. Yes, it did cost more to have the photowith the obituary. If someone chooses to remember their loved one from back when they were in their prime, so be it.

We had a photo collage at the funeral home that encompassed his whole life.

There is a trend now to put pictures on headstones as well:

http://www.artisanmemorials.com/lase...portraits.html

mews2much · Sep 18, 2008

My Aunts Pic was a recent Pic of her before she died.

carolpetunia · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by Misty8723

Speaking as a genealogist, it's kind of nice to see a picture of the person in their "prime," so to speak. An obituary is basically about celebrating a person's life - why does the picture have to be current?

I completely agree! We were lucky enough to have some very good recent photos of my father (taken last fall for the back cover of his book), but even more meaningful to us is this shot from 1942, when he was young and healthy, grinning from ear to ear. It reflects the way we hope Papa feels again right now, in the heaven we hope turned out to be just as he imagined it.

natalie_ca · Sep 18, 2008

Carol, your Dad was a very handsome young man!

carolpetunia · Sep 18, 2008

Aw, thank you, Linda! I think so too!

natalie_ca · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Aw, thank you, Linda! I think so too!

I'll have to dig out one of my Dad and post it. It's a portrait of him in his army uniform too from WWII.

gemlady · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

There is a trend now to put pictures on headstones as well:

http://www.artisanmemorials.com/lase...portraits.html

Nothing new here. I have seen photos on headstones from the last century as well as etched portraits at local cemeteries. Unfortunately I have seen the photos vandalized.

Interesting link. I think I'd like an obelisk. (Sorry to hijack the thread.)

marianjela · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by gemlady

Nothing new here. I have seen photos on headstones from the last century as well as etched portraits at local cemeteries. Unfortunately I have seen the photos vandalized.

Sadly, I've witnessed the vandalized stones as well. Nothing like needing insurance on your final resting place!

laureen227 · Sep 18, 2008

Originally Posted by Marianjela

Wow! I really like that idea! Much easier than trying to throw together and arrange a collage on their magnetic boards.

Even if the home dont have their own monitor, I suppose it wouldnt be hard to take a laptop and set up a slideshow.

Thanks for sharing!

that's what we did for my maternal grandmother's funeral. we had pix that were only about 2.5 years old, from her 90th birthday party. plus loads of pix from thruout her life. my aunt created the slideshow & played it on her laptop. afaik, the funeral home didn't have such a thing.
the pic on my grandmother's obit was also one taken around the time of her 90th birthday. she was 92.75 when she died [about

] & she died in december of 2006. she had 5 children, 14 grandchildren, & 26 great-grandchildren. almost everyone came to the funeral, too.

Pictures and Obituaries

marianjela

TCS Member

momofmany

TCS Member

clixpix

TCS Member

rosiemac

TCS Member

marianjela

TCS Member

natalie_ca

TCS Member

alleygirl

TCS Member

rosiemac

TCS Member

AbbysMom

At Abby's beck and call

mews2much

TCS Member

carolpetunia

TCS Member

natalie_ca

TCS Member

carolpetunia

TCS Member

natalie_ca

TCS Member

gemlady

TCS Member

marianjela

TCS Member

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

Latest Posts

Connect with us