Before funerals at funeral homes in Mount Vernon, WA, one of the first things that you will need to take care of is writing an obituary for your loved one who has died. In the past, obituaries were published in the local newspaper where the deceased resided, as well as in other city newspapers where the deceased was either known well or where they spent a lot of time.

Obituaries contain a summary of the deceased person’s life in addition to a list of immediate family who died before the deceased, as well as a list of any immediate family members who survive the deceased. Obituaries also include funeral arrangements and a list of pallbearers, if the deceased is going to be buried.

As print newspapers go digital, the cost for publishing obituaries in print newspapers is quite expensive. Print newspapers have always charged a by-the-word rate for obituaries, so if the obituary is long, it can be quite expensive to publish it in the print edition of the paper.

Additionally, larger print newspapers charge more than smaller print newspapers, so if obituaries are going to be published in several newspapers, the expense can be prohibitive for many people.

In times past, to keep costs down, obituaries were abbreviated, which often left families of the deceased feeling like the short death notices didn’t do justice to the lives of their loved ones.

Online obituaries, however, which are published only on the funeral home’s website, effectively eliminate these problems. The obituaries can be as long as the families wish and include as much detail as they desire to make sure that the world knows that the lives of their loved ones mattered.

A big advantage of online obituaries is that they can be more colorful. While some print newspapers are now including color photos of deceased people, it costs more money than publishing a black-and-white photo (which also incurs more cost). With an online obituary, not only can you use one color photo of the deceased, but you can include several color photos or you can do a montage of color photos of them.

With all online obituaries a death notice is still included in both the print and digital versions of the newspaper with a link to the full obituary on the funeral home’s website.

Online obituaries also make it easier to notify people about a loved one’s death. With print newspaper readership on the decline, most people no longer subscribe to newspapers that are delivered to their front doors. However, people frequently read newspapers online (and most digital newspapers have become monetized, with limits on how much content you can read without paying to subscribe), so the funeral home’s obituary link can be simply shared using emails and social media.

Online obituaries also provide an opportunity for friends, family, coworkers, church members, and others to write condolences to the deceased person’s immediate family and to share memories and stories about the deceased person.

Having obituaries online can also cut down on phone calls to the immediate family in the first days after the death of loved ones, since people can say anything they would say to the family in sympathy or to share fond memories online. The last thing that bereaved families need to be – or even feel like – doing is fielding a ton of phone calls while they are in the process of making make funeral arrangements and are in the initial stages of grieving.

Online obituaries are great because they’re permanent. Any time someone wants to go read a loved one’s obituary, it’s up on the funeral home’s site for them to view. Usually, the ability to leave comments is turned off after 30 days, but the obituary is available all the time.

For additional information about online obituaries at funeral homes, our compassionate and experienced team at Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Bayview Chapel is here to help. We also serve the areas of Bellingham, Ferndale and Mount Vernon, WA. You can visit our funeral home at 2465 Lakeway Dr., Bellingham, WA 98229 or you can call us today at (360) 733-0510.