Example
Annabelle Hart
Harbor Mill, Ohio · Born April 19, 2021
This is what $99 looks like. Open each thing, then tell us who should receive yours.
What you receive
Five files. That is the package.
01
Traditional newspaper obituary
A PDF to print, and a Word document you can edit. Use it however you want — including the local paper.
02
Questions and answers
Every question they answered, with the answer. PDF and Word.
05
Celebration deck · PowerPoint
The same stills, one to a slide, with their words under them. Opens in PowerPoint and Google Slides.
Look at each one
The page, the photo pages, and the film.
Every question. Every answer.
Annabelle answered 29 of 103. The full list they answered, with the answers — a keepsake from these days. Skipped ones stay out. The newspaper page is made from these.
Click to open the full question-and-answer PDF.
Open the newspaper obituary to see how these answers read as a newspaper page.
Name
Your name, and how you know them
Write your name. Then say if you are their daughter, son, spouse, parent, or friend. If they are writing it themselves, say so.
Claire Hart. I am her mother. Daniel is here. Annabelle is picking the pictures.
What should people call them?
The name on the story. A nickname is fine. Write it the way family says it out loud.
Annabelle.
What is their full name, if it is different?
First, middle, last. Spell it. This is the line a newspaper would print in the first sentence.
Annabelle Hart.
Was there a name only family used?
The kitchen name. The one on a lunchbox. The one a spouse still uses. Skip if the first name is enough.
Belle, when Nora is being soft. She says Annabelle.
Where do they live now, and which cities still have their name on a mailbox?
The town they wake up in, and the ones they never really left. City and state. Do not write a house number or a street of a living person — that is how thieves work. A newspaper prints the city.
Harbor Mill, Ohio. That is the whole map.
Beginning
When were they born, and where?
The date if you have it, and the town. A year is enough if the day is gone, or if they do not want the full date in print. A newspaper uses this for the first sentence.
April 19, 2021. Harbor Mill, Ohio.
Who raised them? Name those people.
Mother, father, a grandmother, an aunt, the ones who did the raising. Write the names, not the roles only.
Claire and Daniel Hart. Nora Hart, grandmother, every Thursday.
What were their parents' names — including a mother's name before she married, if you have it?
Newspapers ask this every time so the story can name their people. Their mother's name before she married. Skip if you do not have it. Do not add maiden names of living people who are not them.
Claire Hart. Daniel Hart.
Where did they grow up, and what did that place feel like?
The town, the house, the street, the kitchen. Was it loud? Small? A porch. A child can answer this.
A playroom with a window. A stoop. Not a clinic. She wants the stoop in it.
Love
Who do they love?
Write the names. People first. Animals if they count. This is the list a newspaper would get wrong if you rush it.
Mom. Dad. Nora. Pip. Toast, who is a drawing of a yellow dog.
Who are the grandchildren, and the little ones after that?
Names if they want them in print. A number is enough if the list is long, or if the children are young and they want them quieter. Great-grandchildren too. Someone will count.
She is the grandchild. Nora's.
Do they want young children's names in print, or only that the children exist?
A newspaper will print every name you give. Young children cannot take that back. Names if they want them. A number if they want those children quieter. Skip if there are no young children.
Annabelle's name, yes. She asked to be in it. She is five.
Texture
What did they love to do when nobody was watching?
The garden, the kitchen, the trail, a tool, a book, a game, the chair and the window. Private joy is the true one.
Bubbles on the stoop. The yellow dog page. Pip in her lap.
Was there an animal who knew them?
A dog, a cat, a horse, a rabbit, the bird they talked to. The animal's name. Skip if there was not.
Pip. Just Pip. He is a rabbit. He does not need a last name.
Is there a place they want people to picture them — a chair, a garden, a trail, a kitchen?
Not a cemetery. The room they were most themselves in. Where the light was.
The stoop. The playroom. The couch on Sunday. Not a treatment room.
Who they were
If I sat next to them for an afternoon, what would I notice first?
Voice. Hands. How close they sat. Whether they offered food before they offered talk. The first true thing.
Pip. The book. She will tell you the dog is named Toast.
How did they show love without saying the word?
A ride. A plate left in the oven. A letter. Showing up early. Fixing the thing you had not asked about yet.
She picked the pictures. She would not let us throw the drawing away.
Pictures
What photographs belong in the ten-minute film?
About forty pictures makes ten minutes. Name the days, not every file. Garden, classroom, wedding, porch, the ordinary Tuesday. Only photographs family has the right to share.
Pip in her lap. The playroom. Mom reading. Bubbles on the stoop. Sunday couch. Not the clinic.
Which days have to be in the pictures — a wedding, a porch, a classroom, a child?
The days that would make the collage a lie if they were missing. One or four is enough.
The stoop. The playroom. Sunday. The sitting she approved.
Who should be in the pictures, named?
The faces that have to be there. The ones who will look for themselves. A dog if the dog counts. Leave a young child unnamed if they asked for that.
Claire. Daniel. Nora. Pip. Annabelle looking like herself.
What should we leave out of the pictures?
A hospital room. A person. A time they do not want shown. Be plain. We will obey this.
No hospital. No treatment room. She said this is the one, I look like me.
The story
What should people remember?
The true thing, not the pretty thing, if those are different. This is the sentence under their name.
I was five. I picked the pictures. I was not only sick.
What do they want the people who love them to know, while they can still say it?
Said now, while they are here. Not a speech. A few lines is enough. This is not last words. It is living.
Keep Pip. Read the yellow dog page when you miss me. Tell them I was five.
Is there one sentence they want in the written story?
The line that has to be in it, in their words. We will not rewrite this line.
I was not only sick.
What should this story not say?
A marriage. An illness. A name. A cause of anything. Never a Social Security number, a bank number, or a house number. The thing family would be angry to see in print. Skip if nothing is off limits.
Do not make it only about the tumor. She is still here.
What is Pip's full name?
A few sentences is enough. Names help. Skip if this does not fit.
Pip. Just Pip. He is a rabbit. He does not need a last name.
What should Mom read when she misses you?
A few sentences is enough. Names help. Skip if this does not fit.
The yellow dog page. Again. She already knows which one. The dog is named Toast.
What do you want Dad to keep?
A few sentences is enough. Names help. Skip if this does not fit.
The bubbles. The ones on the stoop. And the drawing. Do not throw the drawing away.
What should Nora tell the cousins?
A few sentences is enough. Names help. Skip if this does not fit.
That I picked the pictures. That Pip sat in my lap. That it was a good day.