Sharon Herald Obituaries Sharon Pa Honoring Lives Preserving Memories In Local Legacy Reporting

The Sharon Herald publishes obituaries for Shenango Township and the surrounding area in Sharon, Pennsylvania. If you are looking to submit one or find a specific notice, the process is straightforward but has a few friction points that trip people up. Obituaries in the Herald are handled through their main editorial desk. You can call (724) 981-6500 to start the process, or email obits@sharonherald.com. They accept submissions from funeral homes as primary sources, but family members and friends can submit directly as well. The standard rate runs about $75 to $125 depending on length, and a single-column print appearance typically covers up to 200 words before overage charges kick in. I learned this the hard way when my aunt's family needed an obituary published on short notice. We called the office, filled out their template, and assumed everything would run the same week. It did not. The Herald only publishes obits on specific days, usually Tuesday and Thursday, and submissions after the Tuesday cutoff did not appear until the following week. That meant a three-day delay during an already stressful time. My workaround was simple: I called on Monday morning to lock in the Thursday run, and I also had the funeral home submit a duplicate through their account so we had redundancy. Most smaller papers operate this way, but nobody tells you that upfront.

For people searching archives, the Herald keeps obituary records going back roughly fifteen years on their website. Anything older than that usually requires a phone call to the newsroom or a request through the Mercer County Library system in Sharon. The online archive is searchable by name and date, though the search function is clunky and sometimes misses variations in spelling. I have had good luck entering just the last name and narrowing by year rather than using the full name field, which seems to return more consistent results. One thing that catches people off guard: photo inclusion costs extra. Adding a portrait or funeral photo runs an additional $25 to $40 depending on whether it is a standard headshot or a larger image. Some families do not mention this until the obituary has already been approved for print, and by then the option is often locked in. If you want a photo, say so during the initial submission. Do not assume it is included. The Herald also partners with FuneralOne and other national platforms for digital syndication, which means your obituary may appear on third-party sites even if you only submitted through the paper. This is worth noting if you have privacy concerns about where the notice ends up. You can request a print-only submission, though not every desk is equally diligent about honoring that preference. I recommend writing "print only, no syndication" in the submission notes and confirming with the editor before final approval.

If you need a direct link to the current obituary submission page, it is available on sharonherald.com under the News section, usually listed as "Submit an Obituary." The page itself is basic, but it contains the full fee schedule and word count details. Print copies of the Herald are available at the office on 210 W. State Street in Sharon, PA, and the local library holds bound volumes of past issues if you need something more formal for genealogical purposes.