Obituary Template
An obituary with the announcement, life story, family, service details and memorial donations in the order newspapers print them.
Details
obituary templateRed highlights mark what is still blank. Everything stays on this device.
[full name] of [town or city], passed away on [date].
[their life — family, work, what they loved; one paragraph per line]
[first name] is survived by [family members].
[visitation, funeral or memorial — day, date, time and place]
What is an Obituary?
An obituary is the published notice of a death that also tells the story of a life: who the person was, who they leave behind, and when and where people can say goodbye. The family usually writes it in the days after the death, often against a newspaper deadline. Without one, friends, former colleagues and distant relatives may hear too late to attend the service, and the family loses the public record that later generations go looking for.
Families write obituaries, often with help from the funeral home, which may place the notice in the local paper and post it on its own website. They also appear in church bulletins, alumni magazines, workplace newsletters and online memorial pages. The writer is usually a spouse, an adult child or whichever relative can gather the facts fastest, and the first draft is often done in a hurry between other arrangements. A structure that follows the order newspapers print in saves time and keeps details from slipping through.
Every newspaper sets its own rules. Ask the paper, or the funeral director placing the notice, for its current prices, the deadline for the edition you want, any length limit, whether a photo costs extra, and whether it needs the funeral home to confirm the death before printing. Online versions on funeral home websites and memorial sites have their own terms. Practice abroad is similar: in the UK, families place a paid announcement in the deaths column, and in India many families place a paid obituary or remembrance notice with details of the prayer meeting.
An obituary is not a legal document. It does not register the death or prove it to a bank, insurer or government agency; that runs through the death certificate and the official registration process. It is not the formal notice to creditors that some estates must publish, which the executor or the estate's lawyer handles separately. And it is not the place to settle family disputes: leaving a relative out of the survivors list is noticed, and printed words are hard to take back.
What to put in an Obituary
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Full name | To add a photograph, use “Add your logo” above — it places the picture above the name |
| Known as optional | The name used through the text. Leave blank to use the first name. |
| Age optional | For example: 84 |
| Of (town or city) | For example: Columbus, Ohio |
| Date of death | Free text |
| Born | For example: March 3, 1942, in Toledo, Ohio, to Harold and Ruth Simmons |
| Life story | One paragraph per line |
| Survived by | Carries on from “… is survived by” |
| Preceded in death by optional | Carries on from “… was preceded in death by” |
| Service details | For example: Visitation will be held on Friday, October 2, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Greenlawn Funeral Home,… |
| In lieu of flowers optional | For example: Memorial donations may be made to the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation. |
| Arrangements by optional | For example: Greenlawn Funeral Home |
How to write an Obituary
Open with the announcement line
Start with what readers scan for: full name, the name people knew them by, age, town and date of death, in one sentence. Use the nickname friends would recognize — ‘Robert (Bob) Hayes’ — because many readers never knew his legal name. Say ‘died’ or ‘passed away’ as the family prefers. Giving the cause of death is the family's choice; some name an illness so the donation request makes sense.
Tell the life story in specifics
Cover where they were born and to whom — the year is enough, not the full date of birth. Then family, school, military service, work and what they loved. Pick details only this person had: ‘coached his daughters' softball team and never missed a game’ says more than ‘loved sports’. Write in the past tense, keep sentences short, and read it aloud to someone who knew them.
List survivors and those who died before
A common order is spouse or partner, children and their spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, parents, siblings, then others. Agree with the family how to handle stepchildren, former spouses and partners before you write. ‘Preceded in death by’ names close relatives who died earlier. Then check the spelling of every name with the family, including married names and in-laws; a misspelled grandchild is the error people remember.
Give complete service details
For each event — visitation, funeral or memorial service, burial — give the day, date, time, the name of the place and its street address. If the service is private, say so, and say whether a public memorial will follow. Confirm every time and address with the funeral home and the church or venue before the notice goes in; one wrong detail sends mourners to an empty building.
Close with donations and the funeral home
Under ‘in lieu of flowers’, name the charity in full, with the local chapter if there is one, so readers can find it. A line of thanks to hospice or hospital staff is common here. End with ‘arrangements by’ and the funeral home's name, which tells readers where to send cards and find the online guestbook. Before sending, remove the home address, the exact date of birth and the mother's maiden name.
Common mistakes
- Printing the full date of birth, home address or mother's maiden name hands identity thieves the answers to common security questions and tells burglars which house will be empty during the funeral.
- Misspelling a survivor's name or leaving someone out of the list causes lasting hurt, and a printed correction rarely reaches everyone who read the original.
- Sending service times before the funeral home and venue have confirmed them sends mourners to the wrong place at the wrong hour.
- Missing the newspaper's deadline pushes the notice past the service, so people learn about the funeral after it has happened.
- Writing a string of adjectives — kind, generous, hardworking — instead of one real detail produces an obituary that could describe anyone.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write an obituary?
Gather the facts first: full name, age, town, date of death, birthplace, family names and service details. Write the announcement line, then a few paragraphs on the life — family, school, work, service and what they loved — followed by survivors, those who died before them, service times and a charity for donations. Ask a second family member to check every name, date and time before it goes to the paper.
What should be included in an obituary?
The usual order is the announcement (full name, age, town and date of death), the life story (birth, family, education, work and what they loved), the survivors, those who died earlier, the service details (visitation, funeral, burial or memorial) and where to send memorial donations. A photo is optional. Leave out the exact date of birth, home address and mother's maiden name, which identity thieves look for.
What is the difference between an obituary and a death notice?
A death notice is a short paid announcement: the name, age, date of death and service details, and little else. An obituary is longer and tells the life story. The family usually writes it, though for a notable person the newspaper may write its own. Some families put a short notice in the paper and the full obituary on the funeral home's website. Ask the paper how it charges for each.
Who writes the obituary?
Usually a close family member — a spouse, an adult child or a sibling — sometimes working from a questionnaire or draft the funeral director provides. Some people write their own in advance or leave notes for the family. Newspaper staff write obituaries themselves for people whose deaths are news. Whoever drafts it, have a second relative check the facts and names, because the writer is grieving and working fast.
How long should an obituary be?
Long enough to say who the person was and give every service detail, and no longer than the space you are paying for. Newspapers set their own length limits and prices, so ask before you write and cut the print version to fit. A fuller version can go on the funeral home's website. A short obituary with one real story reads better than a long one full of general praise.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.