Dishing dirt on the deceased

Monday magazine features an interview with Sandra Martin, chief obituary writer for the Globe and Mail, touching on all her writing talent and honors.

She tells the interviewer: "Being an obituary writer is the most interesting and terrifying job in the newsroom—interesting because you never repeat yourself and terrifying because you never know who will be the next to die."

Yes, while other reporters are struggling to find a fresh way to write yet another first day of school, opening of the legislature or weather story, we get to delve into an interesting life and bring readers a different story every day.

It's a quick read, has a fabulous photo of Sandra and gives insight on how she "makes her subject 'breathe one more time. . .'."

150 Ways to Leave the Planet

Carlos Alcala takes on the subject of euphemisms used in paid obituaries and death notices to inform readers that a person has died in "The 'D' Word" in today's (Jan. 19, 2010) Sacramento Bee.

Until I read it, I didn't realize that avoiding the D word is at least as old as the Bible. Alcala points out that in the book of Genesis (the first book of the Bible) "Abraham gave up the ghost . . . and was gathered unto his people."

Alcala also cites the website of Bea Toney Bailey, who has a local cable TV show called "Bea on Bereavement" sponsored by the Interfaith Service Bureau. The site is called "Farewell, My Friend."

Interesting stuff.

2010 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Convention

Read the latest about the Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) Convention that will take place at The Philadelphia Inquirer April 22-24, 2010, on the SPOW Convention page at http://www.obitwriters.org/convention.html.

We expect to announce the complete program schedule, including speakers and topics as well as registration information, before the end of January.

Please note that we have not contracted for a block of hotel rooms, but we are designating Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia Airport as our convention hotel. Room rates at downtown hotels near the Inquirer building are exceptionally high the week of our convention. Four Points and most other airport-area hotels offer much lower rates and special promotions.

Four Points also has a lobby, lounge and restaurant where conventioneers can hang out and meet for purposes of carpooling and cab-sharing to travel downtown.

We'll set up an online site for registration after the program is announced. We'll confer with those who register early to determine the site of our kickoff dinner and more.

We'll post updates as they become available. Contact me at convention@obitwriters.org or my personal email address for more information and to offer suggestions.

Obit writer featured in California paper, blog

Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) member Lisa Kimble is the subject of a feature titled "Liven up your obituary with a little help" in the Jan. 3, 2010, edition of the Bakersfield Californian.

Dianne Hardesty, who wrote the piece, also has posted a version of it on her own blog under the heading "Journalist's Niche -- Six Feet Under."

SPOW, its website, its upcoming convention and legendary obit writer Jim Nicholson are mentioned in the article.

Nicholson will be a featured speaker at the convention, which will be held April 22-24, 2010, in Philadelphia.

Watch for convention updates on the Obituary Forum and on the SPOW website.

Canwest News Service report on obits study

Shannon Proudfoot of Canwest News Service wrote a report on the obituaries study (mentioned in the previous post) that appeared in newspapers across Canada over the last couple of days.

Some of the stories appear to have been edited. The most complete one appears to be in the Montreal Gazette. Here's the link.

The State of the American Obituary

Patricia Sullivan of The Washington Post has posted an item on the Post Mortem blog about the Medill School of Journalism report on "The State of the American Obituary."

David Lloyd is dead

The Emmy Award-winning TV comedy writer, who died last week of prostate cancer, penned scripts for "The Bob Newhart Show," "Phyllis," "Rhoda," "Lou Grant," "Taxi," "Cheers" and "Frasier." But he was best known for writing the hilarious "Mary Tyler Moore" episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust."

As an obit writer, I have always enjoyed this humorous look at death and impromptu tributes. In honor of Mr. Lloyd, I offer this video clip of his masterpiece:

Paid Obits from 2008

Dear Obituary writers et al:

Alana mentioned that I would be posting, so here goes:

I'm a public radio producer working on an end-of-year obit series for NPR's All Things Considered. We hope the series will acknowledge deaths from this past year -- as well as the people who memorialized these deaths. As part of the series, we will be doing a segment on paid obits -- read by the people who wrote them. I'm interested in hearing from all of you about your favorite paid obits from this year. If you noticed some that stood out, I'd be grateful if you could send them to me at ebotein@mac.com

Thanks so much for your time.

Best,

Emily

A sign of the times

Some people spend their whole lives vying for fame. To get your name up in lights in Iowa, all you have to do is die.

The Iles Funeral Home in Des Moines is now offering electronic obituaries on area billboards. The digital announcements last about 8 seconds and feature the deceased person's name, picture and service details as well as the funeral home's Web site. The extra service is offered at no charge.

Cashing in on the dearly departed

A CBS affiliate in Michigan thinks it can turn on-air obituaries into an important revenue stream.

Kay Powell's mama died

Kay Powell, who wrote fabulous obits for regular folks as well as the rich and famous during her years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, composed an obit for her mother, Juanita T. Powell, that ran in the AJC's paid obits section and appears on the McLane Funeral Home website: www.mclanefuneralservices.com.

Kay did a fine job of summing up her mom's professional, social and family life, explaining some details in her own special way.

She provides the following to explain how Mama delighted in sharing her home with family, friends and sometimes strangers:

In fact, after she was widowed, there were 13 toothbrushes in her bathroom, all kept there by people who regularly enjoyed her company.

She evolved into a great cook who turned out a dinner every Sunday then--determined by how much she had cooked--invited whomever she ran in to to join the family table after church where lively, sometimes six-way conversations ensued.

Condolences, Kay.

How many Ps in Chappaquiddick?

Editor & Publisher tracks the first mention of Chappaquiddick in a roundup of obituaries:


It's always fascinating to see where obituaries first bring up what might be called the biggest (sometimes single) black mark on a notable person's life. Just last week we looked at when news outlets first mentioned the Plame case in covering the death of Robert Novak. So where did leading outlets place the first mention of the Chappaquiddick accident in their obits of Ted Kennedy? E&P's Sam Chamberlain provides the following count. The liberal Boston Globe mentioned it much earlier than the conservative Boston Herald.

NY Daily News- 13th graf

Associated Press- 7th graf

Boston Herald- 10th graf

Boston Globe- 5th graf

NY Times- 14th graf

NY Post- 14th graf

Washington Post- 9th graf

Wall Street Journal- 6th graf

LA Times- 12th graf

Chicago Tribune- 12th graf (same obit as LA Times)

Miami Herald- 10th graf

Reuters- 18th graf

USA Today- 19th graf

Politico- 24th graf

The Hill-NO MENTION

Roll Call-25th graf

National Journal-11th graf

Times of London- 8th graf

My sister: The obituary cliché

Sometimes standard obituary clichés are true, as you will see in "Alana Baranick's The Dash Between" column titled "Rosalie Miltak Sims and Obituary Clichés" at ObitsOhio.com in what amounts to a eulogy for my sister, who died May 16, 2008.

At the end of the column, I added a link to that long list of obit clichés that Claire Martin compiled and posted on Obituary Forum last year.

The RIPpy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Obitutainment

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Rippy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Obitutainment - Crypts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rippy Awards - Celebrity Crypts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Farewell Footage

In the past two years, producers at The New York Times on the Web have stockpiled more than two dozen video obits of famous subjects. Ten more are currently "in production."

"There is editing and production and interviewing, and it takes time. You have to do a lot of research, get archival footage, acquire rights to things and go through our own video library," David Rummel, the Times senior producer for news and documentary, told Editor & Publisher magazine.

At the time of this writing, The Times has published four Vobits: Art Buchwald, Dith Pran, Odetta and Stewart Mott. In each case, the Website agreed to keep the involvement and identity of the subject confidential until the time of death.

Is your news organization doing this? If not, why not?

Librarians at your service

In case you missed a posting about this new librarian website, check it out.
It's staffed by librarians who are happy to answer death-related questions.

Jeff Goldblum has died. Twitter says so.

Without putting it into words, Stephen Colbert made an excellent point on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central June 29, 2009, when he reported the death of actor Jeff Goldblum based on information provided by Twitter.

It's the same thing as the obit writer's Rule No. 1: Make sure they're dead. And Rule No. 2 is like unto it: Make sure your sources are reliable.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jeff Goldblum Will Be Missed
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

Limited time offers

This week's celebrity dead — Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson. But wait! There's more!! Billy Mays.

Gayle Ronan Sims' last obit: Ed McMahon

Before Gayle Ronan Sims went into the hospital for a lung transplant a couple of months ago, she completed the finishing touches on the advance obit she wrote about Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's TV sidekick on "The Tonight Show."

She requested that we post that obit on the Obituary Forum when McMahon's time came. It's time now. McMahon died this morning (June 23, 2009).

Gayle's time came sooner. She died April 16, 2009, not long after undergoing transplant surgery.
Her byline appears on McMahon's obit in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. (Per Philly Inky policy, this link will not remain online indefinitely. Once it disappears from the Internet, it can be ordered from the Inquirer archives.)

She began the obit this way: Ed McMahon, 86, who began his half-century television career in Philadelphia before becoming Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show where his stentorian booming announcement "Heeere's Johnny!" became his trademark, died this morning.

Gayle's story gets front-page treatment on the newspaper's mainpage at http://www.philly.com/.

Gayle was the champion of incorporating multimedia into obits. She probably was responsible for assembling the slideshow that accompanies his obit.

As was her custom, I'm sure Gayle searched YouTube.com for video of McMahon and designated at least one video that would be appropriate to run with his obit. I'm guessing its omission was an oversight on the part of the folks who posted the obit online this morning. Perhaps it will be added later.

In the meantime, here's a video of McMahon in his role as straight man to Carson's Karnak the Magnificent.

Non-pro seeks feedback from pro obit writers

In an email to the Society of Professional Obituary Writers, corporate writer Susan C. McGarry wrote that she recently penned her father’s obit and would like to get comments from those who write obits professionally.

Those of you who prefer to respond to her privately rather than making a public comment on Obituary Forum can get Susan's contact info from Alana Baranick.

Here's the obituary Susan wrote for her father:

L. Benjamin Clark, 76, of Scottsdale, Ariz., passed away June 1, 2009, after a blessedly brief battle with cancer.

Beloved father, husband, grandfather, friend and teacher, Ben was born Sept. 22, 1932, in Livingston County, Ill., to Leonard and Alice McKinney Clark. Raised in the small town of Chenoa, Ill., he was an avid track and football athlete at Chenoa High School, where he still held the shot put record of 52’ 8" when the school closed in 2004. Ben went on to star at the University of Illinois and at Illinois State University, playing football and setting a school shot put record at ISU as well.

While at ISU, Ben met Bettyglen "B.G" Render of Bloomington, and they married in 1953. Ben graduated from ISU in 1955 with degrees in business education and physical education, and taught at school in Milford, Mt. Morris and Palmyra before moving his family to Rock Island, in 1960. He found Rock Island to be an enjoyable place to raise a family, and his teaching and coaching career blossomed.

The strongly built 6’ 4" teacher and track and football coach was a fixture on the local sports scene, also serving as Rock Island High School’s athletic department business manager. He was admired by his students and the athletes he coached, as well as by his peers, who often enjoyed his friendly style and desire to bring a smile and laugh to those around him. A brick paver in his honor is installed on the plaza at the Rocky Fieldhouse.

Ben retired from Rocky in 1989, and he and B.G. headed to Mesa, Ariz., for retirement. But a kicked-back retirement wasn’t for Ben. He started a second career in teaching and coaching for Mesa Public Schools and became very active in Senior Olympics, competing and winning medals at the local, regional and national levels. He took up hobbies in photography and genealogy but his zest for sports remained a focus of his life. He retired again in 1995.

Known as "Benny" in his younger years, then as "Big Ben" by his students, friends and family, in later life he was affectionately known as "Boompa" by his three grandchildren, whom he adored.

Surviving are his wife, B.G., Scottsdale; daughters, Carol Clark and her husband, David Hassard, Albuquerque, N.M., and Susan Albrecht McGarry and her husband, Patrick McGarry, Scottsdale. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Beth (Hassard) Diven and her husband, Matt Diven, Fort Collins, Colo., and Ben Albrecht and Ted Albrecht, both of Phoenix. He is further survived by sister-in-law, Joanne Clark, brother-in-law Tjark Rients; as well as by nieces, nephews, many other relatives and many friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers, Arthur, Lemuel and William; and a sister, Mary Agnes.

Ben’s talents as a teacher and coach, his sense of humor, his generous manner, his love of family and his passion for all things sports will be remembered with love. A special and unique man, he will be dearly missed.

A celebration of Ben’s life will be held on Saturday, June 13, at Beck Memorial Home at 11 a.m. in Bloomington, Ill. Visitation will be from 10 to 11 a.m. followed by a memorial service and interment at Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington with Jerry Hoffman presiding. The family asks that donations be made to the Ben Clark Memorial Fund through the Rock Island-Milan Education Foundation, 2101 6th Ave., Rock Island, IL 61201, to support athletes in need at Rock Island High School. Donations may also be made to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements are being handled by Beck Memorial Home, Bloomington.