Working with Port Huron Times Herald Death Notices Is More Straightforward Than You Might Think
I've spent years helping people navigate the process of placing death notices in the Port Huron Times Herald. It's not glamorous work, but it's important and there's a lot of confusion around it that I see repeatedly. The newspaper has been serving the St. Clair County area for over a century, and their death notices section is one of the most read parts of the paper locally. People rely on it to connect with others who knew the deceased. Let me walk through how this actually works in practice, because the official website will give you a form and a phone number but it won't explain the things that trip people up.
Port Huron Times Herald Death Notices Honoring Local Lives And Preserving Community Memory
A death notice in the Times Herald is different from an obituary. An obituary is typically written by a journalist or family member with more narrative detail. A death notice is a factual announcement — name, date of passing, surviving family members, service information, and maybe a brief biographical line. It's usually shorter and runs in a dedicated section. Families often place both: a notice in the paper and a longer obituary online through the newspaper's website or a funeral home's page. The Times Herald accepts death notices submitted through several channels. You can fill out a form on their website at timesherald.com, call their advertising office directly, or work through a funeral home that already has established relationships with the staff. Using a funeral home is by far the easiest route if you're in the middle of arranging services. They know the format, they know what the editors want to see, and they can catch errors before submission. Here is the practical process. First, gather the essential information: full legal name of the deceased, age, date and city of death, names of surviving immediate family members (spouse, children, parents, siblings), any predeceased family members if you want to include that, service details like time and location of visitation or funeral, and whether memorial contributions are being requested instead of flowers. You'll also need a contact name and phone number for verification. That's it. Most notices run between two and five paragraphs depending on how much family detail you want to include.
Timing matters more than people realize. The Times Herald's deadline for same-day placement is typically mid-morning, but if you're working with a funeral director they often handle overnight submissions for next-day publication. I've had clients call me at 10 PM knowing the notice wouldn't run until the following Thursday's paper. That's fine. The newspaper publishes death notices on a rolling basis and there's no penalty for a next-day slot. What costs extra is rush placement outside normal business hours, and frankly it's almost never necessary. Here is something the website doesn't clearly communicate. The cost structure is based on word count and layout, not a flat fee. A standard death notice with basic information might run around eighty to one hundred twenty dollars depending on current rates. If you add photos, which the Times Herald does allow, there's an additional charge per image. Some families don't realize this and get surprised at the final bill. My recommendation is to keep the text tight and reserve the photo option for one strong, clear image rather than multiple smaller ones that may not reproduce well in print. I encountered a specific problem a few years ago that illustrates why getting the details right upfront saves everyone time. A family called me because their notice had already been submitted with the wrong surname spelled on the deceased's grandmother's line. The grandmother was listed as "Margaret Dobson" when her legal name was "Margaret Dobyns." The notice hadn't gone to print yet but the editor had already approved it. Rather than going through a formal correction process, I called the managing editor directly, explained the single-letter discrepancy, and had it corrected before the page was locked. If I had tried to resolve this through the general advertising line, it would have taken hours and likely missed the publication window. The workaround here is simple: always triple-check names against the death certificate, especially older generations where spelling variations are common in Michigan records. Do it before you submit anything.
Get the Full Details
There are a few nuances that experienced people know but first-timers consistently miss. The Times Herald has a policy about predeceased family members that isn't obvious from the submission form. You can include them, but the newspaper typically asks that you use the phrase "predeceased by" rather than listing them in a way that might confuse readers about who is living. This seems minor but it matters for elderly readers scanning the paper who are trying to quickly understand the family structure. Another thing that catches people off guard is the distinction between a death notice and a memorial announcement. If someone died several months ago and the family is now holding a remembrance service, the newspaper may categorize that differently. Memorial announcements sometimes carry different rates and different placement priorities. If your situation is non-traditional — delayed service, celebration of life instead of funeral, or the death occurring out of state — call ahead and describe the situation before submitting. The staff can tell you how it will be classified and whether the standard death notice format applies. The digital side of this has expanded significantly. The Times Herald now publishes death notices on their website alongside the printed version, and many families choose to share the online link rather than relying solely on print. This is worth considering because the online notice remains searchable and accessible long after the print edition is recycled. I've seen extended family members living in California and Florida find out about services through the online archive who otherwise wouldn't have known. The print edition reaches people in the local community who don't check the website daily. Both have value, and most families end up doing both without realizing they can.
If you're preparing a notice and want to move efficiently, here's my straightforward approach. Write the notice on paper first before you type it into any online form. This gives you a chance to review the content without the pressure of a clock. Then transfer it to the Times Herald's online submission system or read it aloud to the person taking the submission over the phone. Reading it back catches errors that silent reading misses — I can't count how many times a family caught a wrong date by hearing the sentence spoken out loud rather than scanning it visually. One more practical note about what gets included. The Times Herald allows information about surviving family members with their current city or town. This is useful for reconnecting extended family who may have moved away, but it's also where privacy concerns come up. Some families prefer not to list cities for younger siblings or adult children who value their privacy. That's completely acceptable. The newspaper won't push back on reasonable privacy requests. When in doubt, list the person's name without the location, which is standard practice for adults who may not want their current address information distributed through print media. The entire process from gathering information to seeing the notice in print usually takes about three to five days for standard placement. If you work through a funeral home during normal business hours, it can be faster. The newspaper's staff is professional about this work and they understand the time-sensitive nature, even though death notices aren't emergency content. They treat the job with appropriate gravity, which is exactly what you want when you're dealing with loss.
