Writing Obituaries That Actually Work
The Evening Telegram has been publishing obituaries for over a century. It's a Newfoundland institution. But the process of getting one right — one that actually captures a person instead of reading like a resume — is something most people figure out under terrible circumstances. I've helped families with this more times than I can count, and there are things you won't find in any template. Here's how the actual process works. You submit an obituary to the Evening Telegram either through their online portal or by calling their newsroom. They charge by the line or by word count depending on whether it's print, digital, or both. As of the last time I checked pricing, a standard obituary runs somewhere in the range of $50 to $150 depending on length and placement. The digital version is free with a print purchase in most cases, but that arrangement shifts occasionally so always confirm current terms with the newsroom directly. The thing nobody tells you is that the deadline is brutal. Evening Telegram obituaries for next-day publication typically need to be in by 3 PM the day before you want them printed. Miss that window and your notice gets pushed to the day after, which matters when everyone's already planning the service. I learned this the hard way with my uncle's obituary. We submitted it at 4:47 PM on a Thursday because we were still coordinating funeral arrangements. It ran Friday instead of Thursday. The memorial service was Wednesday night. We ended up relying on word of mouth and social media to fill the gap. Never again.
For writing the actual content, start with the basic facts: full name, age, date and place of death, surviving family members, and predeceased relatives. Then add the substance. The difference between a forgettable obituary and one people actually remember comes down to three or four specific details — a hobby, a habit, a place they loved, something they were known for saying. "He was a loving husband and father" tells you nothing. "He fixated every Saturday morning on the radio station in Gander and could identify any country song within three seconds" tells you everything. Structure it simply. Open with the announcement of death. Move through biographical highlights — birthplace, education, career, military service if applicable. List surviving family. Mention predeceased family. Include service details. Close with donation information if the family wants that. That's it. Don't pad it. Don't try to make it literary. The people who mattered to this person already know who they were. One thing that catches people out: the Telegram's online obituary section now lives on their website alongside the print. That means the same text appears in both places, but the digital version can include a photo. Upload a clear headshot or a well-lit candid — not a cropped group photo from a wedding, not a heavily filtered selfie. Something recognizable. The newsroom won't reject a photo outright, but they will resize it, and if it's poor quality your loved one ends up looking worse online than they deserve.
Another practical consideration: verification. The Telegram requires some form of identification or proof of relationship before publishing, usually a death certificate copy or a call from the funeral home handling arrangements. If you're writing on behalf of someone, have the funeral director submit it directly — it speeds things up significantly. I've seen families waste two hours on the phone trying to verify themselves when the funeral home could have done it in ten minutes. The digital angle changes a few things too. Online obituaries stay up indefinitely, which is good for people searching later but also means you need to be careful about what you include. Phone numbers, home addresses, specific hospital names — leave those out. Scammers use obituary information. A generous family mentioned in the text is a target. Keep the personal details personal but keep the contact info general. If you want a guest book or digital condolences section, the Telegram offers that through their online platform at no extra charge. Family members can moderate comments before they appear. It's worth turning that on if you expect a lot of traffic — unchecked comments on grief posts range from genuinely helpful to uncomfortably intrusive, and you don't want to be scrolling through that at 2 AM.
Get the Full Details
Common mistake: writing from the perspective of the deceased instead of about them. "I passed away peacefully on Tuesday" reads wrong. It should be "John passed away peacefully on Tuesday surrounded by his family." Third person, always. The newsroom will edit it anyway if you get it wrong, but why give them the work. Length matters more than people think. A 400-word obituary covers the essentials without becoming a document nobody finishes reading. Anything over 600 words starts dragging, and online readers abandon text heavy pieces quickly. The print has column width constraints that make very long obituaries awkwardly formatted anyway. Keep it tight. Proofread it once, then read it aloud. That's when you catch the stuff you missed — "his sister Mary" when you already mentioned her earlier, a date that doesn't line up, a name spelled wrong. Spelling errors in obituaries are the number one complaint from grieving families afterward. Take fifteen minutes with it. Cross-check every name against a birth certificate or family tree if you're unsure.
For the Evening Telegram specifically, their obituary submission page is on their website under the Life section. You can draft and submit online or call the newsroom directly. If English isn't your first language or the family prefers another language for parts of the notice, that's fine — they handle bilingual pieces without issue, though the French content goes in a separate section sometimes. Call ahead to clarify layout. The biggest shift I've seen in the last few years is how much of the obituary life now happens online. People find out about deaths through Facebook shares of the Telegram notice before they hear it from anyone else. That means the quality of the obituary matters more than it used to — it's the first official word, the anchor everyone references. Getting it right isn't about perfection. It's about making sure the person comes through on the page.
