O B I T U A R I E S   O N L I N E

Enter the Obituaries Online pages.   

          [[[ I haven't made up my mind yet If we will charge at all.  It will depend on how much use it gets -- and therefore, how much space and whatever else determines how much maintaining the online service costs us on the administrative end.  If we do decide to charge, it will be in the range of, say, less than $20 for what could be equivalent to a good sized-article [half page?] in the newspapers, which would run for a month.  .. I'm thinking 'out loud' here for a sec.  It will take some think-tanking.  Our relational networks would probably bring this to the attention of enough people to begin to get the word out there.  I bet given a couple of years, this could become known enough as an alternative that one or both of two things will happen.  It may force the newspapers to reconsider what they are charging and hopefully pick more reasonable rates.  Or this will just take off.  Who knows! Obviously, this is would be a great service.  It would be handy online.  People could print it out.   We would make it so they could easily add maps and driving directions to funerals and memorials. ... What am I missing .. anything?? ]]]

          We have to navigate one very tricky aspect to all this.  Theoretically, anyone could call/set up an obit in a newspaper for, say Jo Shmo, who isn't dead at all, as a joke.  This is the biggest challenge for the newspapers, as I understand it.     

          Recently a small group I work with that helps educate others about home funerals and green burials did a little research and discovered the local newspaper up to now would only print obits through some authority, such as funeral homes or the registrar of deeds who is responsible for death certificates, maybe a doctor or local hospital -- but some known type of authority who can legally verify this kind of information.  We asked if they would be willing to reconsider their policy and specifically allow for our group and others associated with us who were helping with or involved in their own family home funerals.  Staff on this newspaper are already cognizant of our work have written a couple of wonderful articles about the home funeral phenomenon.  They did not hesitate to say they certainly would allow us to call in obits without resorting to a funeral company.  

          But in the long run, what will this mean, how must this change to accommodate more and more people who choose the home funeral approach for their loved ones?  In nearly all states in such cases, it is not -- I repeat, not -- required by law to have to relinquish these responsibilities and needs to a certified funeral company.  

          If we consider adding this to our services online, we need to develop a well-thought-out concept that we can then turn around and take to, say those state/county agencies that routinely handle dispensing death certificates.  Maybe there's a way we can approach the right government or medical officials in every state and set up a relationship whereby we can together ensure a viable way to proceed with this and circumvent the challenge.  

          I'm wondering if we could work out some kind of small, routine fee for services, that would then become part of our fee, if we plan to take this service on, on this level of impact.  In NC, the 'department' that  dispenses our automobile license plates is a private vendor!  Maybe we could do something along these lines.