Quad City Times Obituaries Honoring The Lives Of Quad City Residents And Their Families

Working With Quad City Times Obituaries

The Quad Cities has always been a tight-knit region spanning the Illinois-Iowa border, and when someone passes away, the local newspaper obituaries are still where most people turn first. I've spent years navigating these pages for family, genealogy research, and just keeping track of who's gone. Here's what I've learned about the actual process of reading, submitting, and finding what you need in Quad City Times Obituaries Honoring The Lives Of Quad City Residents And Their Families. Obituary submissions through the Quad City Times typically go through their newspaper office or directly via their website. You fill out a form, provide the basic biographical details, choose a length tier, and pay the fee. Standard obituaries run for a set number of days, and longer featured versions cost more. The Times generally runs them Monday through Sunday, though placement depends on the submission time and the length selected. The website is quadcitytimes.com/obituaries. You can search by name, date range, or location. There's also a dedicated obituary section where recently submitted notices appear. It's not the most modern interface, but it gets the job done. Mobile rendering is decent enough, though the search filters aren't as granular as I'd like them to be.

Finding Specific Records

Searching for someone who passed years ago can be tricky. The online archive only goes back so far with full text, and older notices are sometimes scanned images that aren't fully searchable. I've run into this multiple times when helping clients trace family histories. If the person died before roughly 2010, you may need to request a physical copy from the newspaper's records department or check microfilm at the local library. The Davenport Public Library and the Rock Island Public Library both maintain obituary indexes that predate the digital archive. They're free to access in person. It's an extra step, but it adds about fifteen to twenty years to your searchable timeline. That's often the difference between finding a notice and hitting a wall.

Submitting An Obituary

If you're writing one yourself, here's the practical stuff most guides skip over. The Times charges by line or by width, and the minimum length is usually around three inches. Most families end up running four to six inches, which covers the basics without feeling rushed. You'll need the deceased's full legal name, age, city of residence, survivors, predeceased family members, service details, and a preferred charity for donations if applicable. Photos are accepted and they do improve engagement, but the resolution requirements are strict. Something under 300 DPI gets rejected or looks pixelated when printed. I usually tell people to send a high-quality JPEG and call ahead to confirm it meets standards before the submission deadline. Missed deadlines push the notice to the next available day, which matters when you're working around a funeral schedule.

A Problem I've Dealt With

Here's something I ran into that isn't obvious: surnames with hyphens or apostrophes. A family I was helping had a last name with an apostrophe, and the Times' submission form didn't have a clean way to enter it. The first attempt came back flagged for correction because the system treated the apostrophe as a syntax error. The workaround was calling their obituary desk directly instead of using the online form. They handled it manually and got it published the same week. Always keep that phone number saved: (309) 788-4400. It's the obituary department line. This happens more often than you'd think. Names with accented characters, unusual punctuation, or non-standard spellings trip up the automated intake process. I've also seen double last names cause confusion when the system asks for a single surname field. When in doubt, call.

What People Miss

One counter-intuitive thing about newspaper obituaries: the online version and the print version aren't always identical. The Times sometimes edits or shortens longer online submissions to fit print layout constraints. If you submit a detailed life story and then only see a condensed version in the paper, that's normal. It doesn't mean your submission was rejected or altered improperly. It just means space is limited and the copy desk made editorial choices. Another thing nobody mentions is the lag between death and publication. Most obituaries run within two to four days of submission, but during holiday weekends or periods of high volume, that can stretch to five or six days. If you're coordinating around a funeral on a specific date, plan for that gap and submit as early as possible. Don't wait until the day before the service assuming it'll appear on time.

Pricing And What To Expect

As of my last check, basic obituary placement starts around $150 to $200 depending on length and run duration. Featured or longer-form pieces can run $400 to $600 or more. Photos are usually an additional charge, sometimes $50 to $75 depending on size. These numbers shift occasionally, so it's worth confirming current rates before finalizing your budget. Funeral homes often have pre-negotiated rates with the paper, so if you're working through a funeral director, ask them about package pricing. It can cut the cost by a meaningful amount. The Quad City Times has been publishing obituaries for decades, and they remain one of the most reliable local sources for death notices in the region. They cover Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island, East Moline, and surrounding communities in both Iowa and Illinois. The coverage is decent overall, though the digital archive has real gaps for anything predating the mid-2000s, and the search function could use an overhaul. If you need something older than the online records show, your best bet is the local public library system or the State Historical Society of Iowa for Iowa-side records, and the Illinois State Archives for Illinois-side ones. Between those three sources, you can usually fill in most of the gaps.

One final note about tone and content. The Times is generally flexible about what you include, but they do have a vetting process. Nothing inflammatory or factually questionable makes it through. This is useful when there's family disagreement about how the person should be remembered, because the paper will push back on anything that reads like a personal attack rather than a standard obituary. It's not perfect, but it keeps things civil enough that the focus stays on honoring the person who died rather than reopening old disputes.