My parents were both part of it, but I found it repulsive. Many of the seniors I talk to are also a part of it. There’s a whole underground society of them out there. Everyday they sit down to their regular reading or radio broadcast of the local obituaries.

It’s morbid and it’s depressing, but somehow it fills their curiosity. So I was surprised when I recently found that it is quite a useful practise.

Our community experienced a number of deaths in the past few months, and for many of them, I was involved in the funeral arrangements. What surprised me was the small number of initial phone calls that would be made. In the first day or so, children, grandchildren and siblings were all telephoned by someone within the immediate family. Other than that, people need to find out on their own. But still, within a few days, oodles of people have called and sent flowers to the nursing home, and the church is full for the funeral.

News travels quite far by word of mouth, especially in tightly knit communities, but those obituary readers get the word out as well. Recently when there were a few deaths in our extended family, people that didn’t know them personally, but figured from the obituary they read that we were related to them, extended their condolensces.

I’ve begun reading them only on a professional basis. As a pastor/caregiver etc, it is helpful to know not only who has somewhere passed away, but who locally is mourning. I’m not so into it that I get the paper just to read the obituaries, but I do have local newspaper’s obituary sections bookmarked on my computer in the office. I guess it’s the logical next step from learning the local family tree.