I spend a lot of time yesterday with my brothers, writing my father's obituary. It was not easy, and even less easy to go over it with both of his living, healthy parents. So I call the paper after this and ask them what they need how much $$$. They're like "we're going to rewrite everything you give us and it cost $400. Also, we cannot guarantee that his obituary will even be printed". you have to be fucking kidding me.

we should just anounce his death in the classifieds.

I'm not surprised it costs money or that they'll rewrite (though both is kind of strange), but if you pay them it should be printed.

Sorry about your dad, man.

The businesses associated with death (obits, funeral homes, etc) are as big a racket as wedding planning.

Sorry to hear about your dad. Best wishes to you and your family.

sorry to hear about your father.

That is officially bullshit. How much does a quarter page ad cost?

I guess it depends on the paper and your location. Chase may have a point about just buying an ad instead.

Really sorry to hear about this.

i paid $175 for my mom's obit and that was 11 years ago. it's quite a racket.
sorry about your father. glad to hear your brothers are there to help out.

it's funny. my mom knew she was dying so she planned a lot of things out. like her outfit to wear in the casket. she not only picked out her clothing but accessorized herself as well with bracelts, earrings, etc. when my sister and i went to puchase a coffin it was easy because we picked one that matched her outfit and then coordinated the flowers with that as well. the whole thing was fun and weird and sad.

all the best to you and your family.

Sorry to say, but obits are pretty much the most profitable part of the paper.

I do think charging so much is bullshit, especially when we run birth announcements, engagement and wedding announcements and anniversarieis for free. Wouldn't be surprised to start seeing a nominal fee attached to those listings as well.

And all the best to you and your family.
Good luck.

Damn Cotton. I had no idea. I feel for you man.

Sorry to hear about your loss, Cotton.

Time to start an online obituary service, and mail around the link. (Someone probably already did.)

Damn Cotton. I'm sorry.

Yeah, put that shit in as an ad instead.

Sorry to hear about your father.
It's something that we're all going to have to deal with sooner or later, but I still cannot fathom going through this.
I'm thinking of you.

Sorry to hear about your loss Cotton.

When my father died, we submitted an obit to three newspapers, two of which had policies of charging to run the obit and all of which said they edited/re-wrote submissions. One ran what we submitted word for word, two edited, and none actually followed through on charging us.

I think if you get the obit submitted in a timely manner and your father has ties to the community which the newspaper serves (eg don't expect the NY Times or Wall Street Journal to run it if he's a small farmer who lived in Nebraska all his life), the newspaper will run it. I like to think they didn't charge me because they considered my father's passing newsworthy and not a personal ad or notification, but I have no way of knowing whether i just got lucky and slipped through the cracks.

If you do get unlucky and they charge, unless you just aren't in a financial position to afford it, I'd just suck it up and do the obit and not some ad. Its your dad man, don't skimp on this or you'll end up regretting it.

My mom's cost about $150, no photo and we wrote it ourselves. Depending on how many words and whether or not a photo was added, determined the cost. I don't remember what my pops' price was.

Cotton, we've already shared words. Trust me when I say that you've got a great support group in Obner.

Oh Cotton, I'm sorry. Always sad to see another member in dead dads club.

And yeah, it's a racket. But if it's his hometown you kinda have to do it.

Hang in there.

I feel your pain, Cotton. Next month will be six years since my Dad passed away. I'm sure it's much more difficult for you than it was for me, given how close it seems like you were to your Dad. PM me if you ever need to talk. And no matter what, lean on Obner.

Sorry to hear about your dad.

sorry to hear about your dad, cotton.

while it's shitty that they charge so much, it's even worse that they said they'll rewrite it. wtf?

By the way, Cotton, your blog entry yesterday was one of the most poignant things I've ever read. Seriously, this blows Mitch Albom's hokum for the masses out of the water.

yea, what bob said.

Thanks guys. I was in pretty bad shape and could barely see when I wrote that so I guess I’m glad I didn’t embarrass his memory with it.



I guess I should be happy I’ve gotten through both of these in the same week then while I’m super poor.

Thanks everyone. I’d like to think I’m handling it okay, but Saturday was pretty bad, and the rest of my family isn’t even all in yet. And the service on Friday will be especially bad. He had a lot of friends. But I appreciate everyone’s support. The sincerest of thanks.

As far as the obit, we’re going to pay it (We’re putting this in four papers –one small-town paper here, one small-town paper in Maryland, the county paper, and the Philly paper- the Philly paper is the one I referred to earlier) because he did know a lot of people, and they’re kinda scattered all over the place. It’s just frustrating.

sorry man - this newspaper policy sounds ridiculous.

when my dad died my step mom handled the whole thing but I know it did get printed.

i found it about 2/3rds of the way down

http://www.obitcentral.com/obitsearch/o ... curry1.htm

Really sorry to hear about your dad, Cotton

d00d, your dad was born exactly one year and one day after my dad. I didn't know you were TEH LUTHERAN (or at least the son of one). I always figured me and bort were the only ones here, though I think red may also be or have been at one time.