Do you read the obituaries?

[ckay87]

I never really have. Thankfully I haven't yet felt the *need* to, you know? But I just got to thinking....I had a man who I worked with who retired years ago. We worked together and got along very well and have kept in touch via email since his retirement. We'll email just a few times per year just to say hi and catch up, you know? He's about 70 now and has been one of the sweetest guys you'd ever know.

I just emailed to say hi and received a response that he's now really very ill, hospitalized with a life-threatening condition (the email really wasn't all that coherent . And I started thinking that if something happens that he doesn't pull through, I wouldn't know. I only have a professional kind of relationship with him and don't know his family at all. Anyway, I care enough to want to know this, so I guess this is the kind of time where one watches the obituaries, huh? I feel so sick and sad doing that, but I now understand the reason that older people tend to read the obituaries so regularly. I guess we reach this point in our lives sometimes, huh?

Just a gloomy day here. I'm in a gloomy mood, having received some gloomy news.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No, I don't get a paper either though.

My mom reads them. She worked in a few nursing homes for 20+yrs and she sees people in there she knew all the time.

Sorry for your friend.

 

[Rora]

I'm 23 and read the obituaries frequently. I don't know why. I've read them since I was a little girl.

OP- I am so sorry about your friend. He is in my prayers, and you are too.

 

[HM]

Yes, we get the sunday paper and I usually read them.

 

[SC Minnie]

I do. I usually scan them to see if there is anyone that I know. I have run across several people in there that I did know. One was the wife of a former coworker. I hadn't kept in touch with him since I left the company. I saw the obit the day of the funeral and was able to get off work for a couple of hours and go. Same thing happened with a friends father and a friends husband- we were close years ago. If I didn't scan them I would have found out much later.

 

[antmaril]

Every day (either in the newspaper or on-line). I've been reading the obits for years.

 

[cybrkitn]

Yes, and in one case I'm glad I did. A friend of my family's passed away and I didn't know it. I went to the wake to find out the daughters were trying to get a hold of my father to let him know (it was the widow of a co-worker of his), but never received a call back. I then had to explain that my father was in the hospital. He passed away 10 days after his friend did.

 

[AmazingGrace]

I do!! If I don't see my name that day, then I know I can proceed with whatever plans I have!!

 

[shellybaxter]

I live in a small town. We get a paper once a week. I read the obits because I usually know the people. Its not an age thing - I've been reading them since I was in middle school.

 

[MerMom60_94]

It's funny you should ask this - I check the obits on-line pretty much every day (unless I get really busy and run out of time). Last week a co-worker noticed and asked me if someone I know died. I told him I am "at that age". Really, I always look because of old neighbors or friend's parents. Hopefully, not for old classmates but you never know. I just look for last names / towns. I don't necessarily read every detail - just enough to queue me in that I might want to look closer.

I am sorry about your friend.

 

[merryweather20]

I don't myself if someone I know passes I'll usually get an e-mail from some where on the friend and family tree.

It seems an odd thing to do, but it ends up nicely sometimes

When my Mom passed away one of her old teachers read the obituary and posted a note for us on-line through the funeral home. It was short but, it was a very nice little note about how he remembered teaching my Mom and my Aunt. How on the ball that man must have been, to remember teaching someone 35 years earlier !

 

[RunningGirl]

I don't "read" them but I do look at the names. I also read the online paper from my hometown. I did find out about a high school friend's dad dying that way.

 

[NotUrsula]

I skim them. Once in a while you'll see an odd one that will really catch your eye -- makes you wonder who on earth wrote the thing.

A couple of years ago I ran across one in my local paper here that made me jump. That I noticed it at all was very strange. It was the obit of my older sister's favourite high school teacher. She was a Marianite Sister who was just a wonderfully funny person, always willing to let herself be the butt of a joke in a good cause -- I remember my Dad repeatedly helping her out of a dunking booth once during the school fair. She went in there over and over again, wool habit and all, because it was bringing in money for charity. Anyway, her order used to take male names, and when we knew her, her name was Edward Paul. It was mentioned in the small print at the bottom of the obit, because they had abandoned the practice some years ago and she had reverted to her real name. It turned out she had grown up here and retired here. Somehow it caught my eye, and I was able to alert my sister. She and several of her friends from high school sent a donation and flowers to the service, and the order was very touched. (They didn't attend because my sister's high school is nearly 900 miles away from here. We never knew where Sr. Edward Paul had really been from.)

 

[AKL_Megs]

I do, quite often.

 

[GeorgeG]

I do, both here and online for my hometown. I'm at an age where an increasing number of people I know are passing away. And, if I'm not on the list for the day it will probably be a good day for me. If I am, then I need to get busy haunting...

 

[C.Ann]

. I'm at an age where an increasing number of people I know are passing away. And, if I'm not on the list for the day it will probably be a good day for me. If I am, then I need to get busy haunting...

--------------------

Same here - that darn "age group" thing..

When I received the daily paper, I always read them - but now I just check online every 3 days or so..

 

[fraggle551]

I do, and i'm only 22. I'm not sure why I do, but I have for awhile. My mom reads them daily. She is a nurse and always looks for former patients.

 

[WL Fan]

We just get the little cheapo paper that comes on Sundays, but I always read it for the obits. Like a pp, I'm looking for previous patients.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I read them mainly because DH has many relatives that live in the area. Usually the only way we find out if someone passes is by reading it in the paper I guess we are on the family's "Do Not Call" list

 

[OK!]

I read them when I'm out at my mom & dad's (they get a paper and I don't), always half-afraid I'm going to see someone in there that I know. I have a sort of negative premonition in general about death that started when my family lost 13 members in a little less than a year (mostly due to natural causes, but 2 did die in a plane crash). Since then, whenever I get a phone call from home at a time when I'm not expecting it (like at the office), I always immediately wonder, "Who died?!"