Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 29 February 2004 Vol 3 Issue: #09 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, They say that the Bible is the most oft read literature. If that is so, then the second most oft read literature lies in the second section of my daily newspaper ... it is the Obituary Page(s). Clarence Darrow is credited with saying: "I have never killed a man but I have read many obituaries with a lot of pleasure." Sure, an' I don't know that I can make this one humorous. For forty-two years I have taken notes and have written the woes, triumphs, mistakes, secrets and shortcuts of researching family history. My mind is "right-brained" and my "organized" files are in piles stacked everywhere. There was a time when I could go to the right pile, reach down and grab the exact piece of paper I wanted or needed. That ability has slowly begun to erode and I'm left with the feeling of doing things standing in a hammock. Come to think about it, sometimes just walking, I feel that way. Obituaries are written for history and posterity, but they can also be written for the entertainment of the living. And, since I have written a few these past several years I can say with all honesty they are a sobering way to spend a day. It most certainly reminds one of their own mortality. When one is young, obituaries are most often skipped. A few short decades later and one begins to read them "religiously". They come in all styles. A former Detroit News reporter, Dorothy Jones Kilpatrick, often clipped humorous ones from newspapers and mailed them to her friends. Once obituaries were just a bit more than death notices. Then they developed into semi-biographical notes with a touch of nice character attributes. It would be so nice to have written obituaries for such people as Tom Sopwith, the plane-maker, the aviation pioneer .... the inspiration for "Snoopy's no-wing doghouse". Or, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, writer and mathematician. He had an interest in logic purely from the humorous and playful nature of it, rather than its uses as a tool. We better know this person as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. If you would like to refresh your memory of his humor reread his poem "Jabberwocky". A work full of nonsensical words made from word combinations. We family historians could learn a lot about how to do our research from obituary writing. The newspaper obituary writer of today is made up of the beginning journalist and the most experienced newspaper journalist. Obituaries are all about reporting, interviewing, accuracy, and captivating the average reader. There are biographical obituaries and there are feature obituaries. Jim Nicholson of the Philadelphia Daily News became a master of the latter type. He once wrote "15 inches" about a guy who fixed toilets. He wrote about a mother who smacked her kids for "making the nuns upset". He also used such phrases as "skinny as a lead pencil". He also said of his obituary work, that it was laminated and hanging on walls. Under these circumstances, obituary writing is an "art form". Over time I have noticed that there are more and more self-styled obituaries appearing in my daily newspaper. The sad part is that the families are being charged a fee to put them into the newspapers. Oh, well, this is the 21st century after all. Some of these self created obituaries are earnest, sincere, and probably quite honest. Some are quite macabre. One thing is for sure .... writing one's own obituary you get to say your "piece". My mother-in-law wrote her own. It was filled with life's accomplishments and doings. I wrote my Father's and our Daughter's obituaries ... I wish I had been less sober in my tone. At least, their personality was included. Many folks who know that they are dying write their own obituaries. My cousin, who died very recently, wanted to say some things to her loved ones and friends so she wrote her wishes in a poem. In part it said, "...Don't speak of me with tears, But Laugh and talk as if I were beside you." She experienced several recurrences of bone cancer before she finally succumbed. Another note that I saved because it was a "family" surname was written by a Mark Reiman. He said, "My body, my earthly shell, finally gave out after fighting and living with ALS [Lou Gehrig's disease] ...." "I drained every quality minute I could from my body and it was a wonderful, beautiful, incredible life filled with love, learning, adventure and some mighty challenges." Now that obituary has quality to move any reader who had the chance to read it. Putting your words about how you'd like to be remembered to paper puts two sides of a coin to view. First, have I done that? And, second, what do I want to do with what remains of my time? Either side of that coin can make the writer fall victum to the allure of grandstanding on a final soapbox. :) Whether you want to put your own spin on what you are remembered for, or you want the last laugh, remember that there must be honesty included in the obituary. They are, after all, written for history and posterity. Oh, before I close ... there are other cultures with other views about obituaries. In Mexico and some other Latin American countries there is the "Dia de los Muertos" [Day of the Dead]. This is a remembrance day in those cultures. For this day, toy skeletons are bought. Calavera poems are written about celebrities [humorous obituaries about people yet living]. After all, jokes must be played at the expense of Death because ultimately Death always has the last word, but not necessarily the last laugh. To be dead sure that you get the last word ..... write your own obituary! I'm off to do mine now, while I have maybe two or three decades above ground. I can always update it every two years. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html