But Robert Shaver Sr., a licensed funeral director, said clients tend to think more about the funeral than the obit. Forms allow preplanners,
or survivors, to construct an obit that’s provided to the local newspaper. A free online version allows more information than the news- paper, he said, adding that a person’s faith and apprecia- tion of loved ones is some- thing “people don’t always wear on their shoulder.” Like many clients, Shaver
admits he hasn’t written his obituary even though
Take your life into your own hands
Write your obit I By Todd Etshman
f veteran Hollywood actor James Rebhorn hadn’t writ- ten his obituary before he died in March, fans may not have known there was much more to him than all the movies and TV shows in which he appeared.
Te member of St. Paul Lutheran
Church, Jersey City, N.J., used his obituary to express gratitude for the faith and family that had shaped him. About his parents, his obituary included: “Tey gave him his faith and wisely encouraged him to stay in touch with God.” And this about his wife and daughters: “Without them, always at the center of his being, his
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www.thelutheran.org
life would have been little more than a vapor.” Rebhorn’s obit not only received
widespread praise for acknowledg- ing the faith and family he valued, it also brought attention to not leaving this task to someone else. Like other mortuaries, Harris
Funeral Home, based in Rochester, N.Y., provides preplanning to clients.
he works in the business. But if Te Lutheran’s recent reader call is any indication, plenty of readers have.
Readers respond … “Should you write your own obit? Absolutely, YES,” responded Norma Porterfield, Rejoice Lutheran Church, Coppell, Texas, who notes that in the case of those who live to old age, survivors are unlikely to know much about what the person did in their early years. “For your children’s sake, write a
testament of what God has done for you in your lifetime. Only you really know that,” she noted. Faith should be included in an
obit as prominently “as it was in the person’s life,” said Jodi Hinrichs, pastor of Shepherd of the Cross Lutheran Church, Muscatine, Iowa. Te conversation about preparing for death doesn’t happen enough with pastors and faith leaders pres- ent, she added. To make sure that happens, Ellen
and Ralph Erchinger, members of Triumphant Lutheran, Austin, Texas, devised a more personal, faith- centered obituary form for their
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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