OBITUARY TEMPLATES HELP EASE FUNERAL PLANNING

One of the first tasks required as you plan a funeral is the writing of an obituary. That doesn’t have to be a difficult task, thanks to free obituary templates that are readily available online. Read through this overview of obituary templates to understand how templates can ease funeral planning.

Templates Provide Structure — In the stressful time following a death, it’s perfectly normal to feel emotional and out of control. If you’re in charge of writing an obituary, using a structured template allows you to focus in on announcing the death and pertinent details appropriately.

Templates Communicate What is Necessary — In addition to giving significant details like surviving spouse and children, the written obituary also communicates the time, date and place of a funeral or memorial service to a large number of people

A typical template for an obituary in a newspaper includes the person’s name, city of residence, dates of birth and death, the time, date and place of the funeral service and names of immediate family members. An expanded obituary which can also be used at the service might include the person’s education, career highlights and volunteer work, hobbies or religious affiliation.

Templates Reduce Publication Cost — Few newspapers publish obituaries at no cost, in fact, the cost to announce a person’s death can be surprisingly high. Using a standard obituary template to communicate the loss allows you to focus on what’s important and, therefore, save publication cost. By all means, share special highlights of the deceased’s life in the eulogy shared at the funeral, but keep published obituaries affordable by using a condensed obituary template.

Obituary Templates Assist Funeral Planning — It may simply seem like a death announcement, but creating an obituary requires you to begin thinking about what will be shared in the funeral service itself.

As you write a brief description of their professional accomplishments, you can be thinking about who could share them at the funeral. When summarizing their involvement in a church or synagogue, you might decide to have someone in the faith community read the eulogy. The simple act of condensing the details of a person’s life and death into a brief obituary template will help turn your mind toward what would make their funeral or memorial special.