two things about listing survivors

first thing: a reader (of the plain dealer obit pages) called me last week to complain about the way i sometimes list surviving relatives.

i prefer to list survivors as follows:
Survivors include her husband, Otto; daughters, Rosalie Sims of Jewett, Ohio, and Adrienne Rotta of DeLand, Fla.; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

apparently, the caller likes it that way, but hates it when i vary that element by saying:
She is survived by her husband, Otto; . . etc. .

"how can you say, 'she is survived' when she's dead?" the caller complained.

i explained to the woman that it is the relatives who survive, not the deceased. then the woman totally disregarded my explanation, repeated her complaint, questioned my capacity for stupidity and hung up.

so i ask you, am i wrong in saying "survived by?" what variations do you use when listing survivors?

second thing: what do you do, when the family wants to list the dearly departed's pets as survivors?

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