Submitting an Obituary Through the Green Bay Press-Gazette: A Practical Guide
I've been helping families navigate newspaper obituary submissions for years, and the Press-Gazette process is more straightforward than most people expect, but there are enough moving parts that a missed detail can delay publication or cost you extra money. Here's how it actually works. The Green Bay Press-Gazette is one of the major newspapers in northeastern Wisconsin, and their obituary section runs regularly with both short notices and longer, full-length farewells. Understanding how their system operates saves you from the kind of headache that comes with last-minute resubmissions and surprise charges. Getting started means choosing between a traditional paid obituary and a death notice, and knowing the difference matters more than most people realize.
A death notice is essentially a factual announcement. It typically includes the deceased's name, age, date of death, surviving family members, and service information. These run for a flat rate and don't allow much narrative. An obituary, on the other hand, is a biographical piece. You can include life details, accomplishments, personal stories, and a proper narrative arc. The Press-Gazette charges by the line or by the column inch, so the length directly affects your bill.
What You Need to Prepare Before You Submit
I've seen families show up at the newspaper office unprepared and end up paying premium rates because they didn't know the price per column inch in advance. Get the facts straight first. Collect the full legal name, any nicknames the person was known by, date and place of birth, date and place of death, and a complete list of immediate surviving family members. Also gather information about predeceased relatives if the family wants them mentioned. Service details like funeral home name, visitation times, and burial location should be confirmed before you submit anything. One thing that trips people up constantly is the photo policy.
Get the Full Details
The Press-Gazette accepts photographs for obituaries, but there are specific technical requirements. The image needs to be at least 300 DPI and preferably a high-resolution JPEG or TIFF file. I've had clients try to email a phone photo that was only 72 DPI, and the production team had to request a replacement, which delayed the notice by a day. If the obituary is scheduled for a Friday publication and you send a low-quality image on Thursday afternoon, you're looking at running without a photo unless you can get an acceptable file in immediately.
The Submission Process
You can submit your obituary content through the Press-Gazette's website, by email, or in person at their offices. The online submission portal routes your copy to the obituary desk, where a staff member reviews it for completeness and accuracy before it goes to layout. Expect a call or email back if something is unclear or if a deadline concern arises. Turning around a complete obituary from scratch during an active funeral planning period is tough. Most families I work with draft the content while a designated family member collects all the factual details. Once you have everything, it usually takes about twenty to thirty minutes to write a solid one-page obituary that covers the essential ground without padding. Here's a realistic edge case that isn't obvious:
If the deceased died out of state or in a facility, the Press-Gazette may ask for additional verification before publishing certain details. I had a situation where a man passed away at a hospice in Milwaukee, and the newspaper wanted confirmation from the Green Bay funeral home handling arrangements before they would print the service information. It added a half-day delay. The workaround was to have the funeral director directly contact the Press-Gazette obituary desk to verify the details on the record, which resolved the issue within a few hours.
Understanding the Costs
Pricing for Press-Gazette obituaries changes, but as of my last update, basic death notices run around eighty to one hundred twenty dollars, while longer illustrated obituaries can range from two hundred to four hundred dollars depending on word count and photo inclusion. These numbers are approximate and should be confirmed directly with the newspaper before you commit. The biggest cost driver is length. Newspapers charge by the inch, and every sentence you add compounds the expense. If budget is a concern, write a complete draft first, then trim it down to fit your target price point. Cutting two or three paragraphs often makes the piece tighter and more readable rather than weaker.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
The most frequent mistake I see is families including too many names in the surviving family section. Listing every niece, nephew, and cousin exhausts the available space and pushes the notice into a higher price tier. Stick to immediate family and maybe a sentence about extended family if space allows. Another issue is the order of information. The Press-Gazette traditionally places the death announcement at the top, followed by biographical details, then service information, and finally a closing line about donations or memorial contributions if applicable. Deviating from this structure doesn't prevent publication, but it can confuse readers who expect the standard format, and it sometimes causes layout delays. Timing is also critical.
If you need the obituary to run on a specific date, submit it at least forty-eight hours before that publication date. The Press-Gazette typically publishes obituaries in the morning edition, so a Tuesday deadline for a Wednesday publication is a reasonable target. Weekend editions may have different cut-off times, and you should verify those separately.
Alternatives Worth Considering
If the Press-Gazette timeline or pricing doesn't fit your situation, there are other options. Online memorial platforms like Legacy.com partner with numerous local newspapers and can distribute your obituary to multiple outlets simultaneously. Some families also choose to publish through smaller regional papers that may cover the area where the deceased lived before moving to Green Bay. The tradeoff is that local recognition matters. The Press-Gazette has deep readership in the Green Bay area, and a print obituary there reaches people who may not check online memorials. If the deceased was a lifelong resident or held a prominent position in the community, the newspaper run carries weight that purely digital options don't match. Writing an obituary for someone you care about is hard enough without navigating newspaper logistics. Getting the facts organized upfront and understanding the Press-Gazette's expectations beforehand removes most of the friction. The staff there are generally helpful when you approach them with complete information, and the final result tends to be a respectful, well-formatted notice that the community can read and respond to appropriately.
