Local Obits

One of the odd things I noticed in the local papers as soon as we moved here was a difference in their style of obituary-writing.

The New York Times (and also, I think, the Post and the News) have a pretty straight-forward template:

"Joe Schmoe, a frequent contributor to Technology Magazine, died Monday night following a protracted battle with cancer. He was 69." The article then goes on to recount highlights of Schmoe's life and to mention any family members.

Seems pretty simple, right?

Here are a few entries from a recent copy of the Po'town Journal, names and ages changed out of respect for the dead people's lawyers:

Jill Reagle, 71, of LaGrange, NY, died at home on Wednesday, May 16, 2007.

Bobbi Peak, 21, a lifelong resident of Middletown, NY, died unexpectedly on Saturday, May 18, 2007.

In each case, the obit describes accomplishments and affiliations of the deceased, and in almost every way, each write-up appears similar to the kind found in the NYC papers. The glaring difference is that the local papers almost never mention cause of death.

Wanting to know the cause of death in an obituary is a bit like rubbernecking past an accident scene. It's the reader's chance to see what did in some other rat in this neverending maze that always ends too soon. In the case of a 71-year-old, we can guess that the person died of heart disease or cancer. But with a 21-year-old, you really want to slow down and get a better look at that wreck. Your first impulse is to make guesses based on clues in the rest of the obit. Last week I read about the death of a young man who was a parachuting enthusiast. I figured that maybe he'd had a problem with his chute, but I decided to Google him anyway. Nope; he'd been driving without a seatbelt and was thrown from his car after hitting a guard rail. He wasn't drunk, but he wasn't smart enough to wear a seat belt, either. I don't see a problem with adding a phrase about cause of death, do you? It might even serve as a reminder to readers who are lax with a seatbelt or cigaret.

There was one PoJo obit recently that made me laugh:

Flo Rivers, 90, of High Falls, NY, died unexpectedly in her nursing home....

Sorry, but 90-year-olds don't die unexpectedly any more than green lights turn red unexpectedly.

I think it's time to do in the obituary-writer of the Poughkeepsie Journal. I'd kill for that job.