The Art Of Online Obituaries A Nuanced Look At Nwi Times Free Obituary Template

Writing Obituaries for NWI Times

I spend too much time reading obituaries. Different publications handle them differently, and the NWI Times is no exception. Their free template has gotten better over the years, but there are still some quirks worth knowing before you start typing.

The basics are straightforward. You go to the NWI Times website, find their obituary section, and select the free option. It generates a fill-in-the-blank form that covers the standard fields: full name, age, city of residence, date of death, surviving family members, and service information. The form itself is clean enough. Where things get complicated is in what you actually write in those blanks. The free template gives you limited space compared to paid placements. I have watched people try to cram five paragraphs into a format designed for about three hundred words. It does not work well. The template will let you paste in whatever you want, but the preview shows exactly how cramped it looks when published. My approach is to write everything first in a document, then trim it down to fit. One thing nobody tells you about the NWI Times template is the handling of military service. They have a checkbox field for Veterans Affairs verification, but that is only for the display badge next to the name. The actual text of your obituary gets its own separate paragraph slot. I learned this the hard way when I submitted my uncle's obituary with all the military details buried in the checkbox section and nothing showing up in the body text. The workaround is simple but easy to miss: type your service details directly into the main narrative section of the form, not just the metadata fields. The template does not auto-populate from the checkbox into the story text.

Surviving family listings follow a standard format that the template enforces. You list immediate family first, then extended family if you have room. The order matters more than people think. Some families get upset when a sibling is listed after cousins or when an ex-spouse creates ambiguity. The template does not flag these issues. You have to sort this yourself. I usually recommend listing spouse, children, grandchildren, then parents, with siblings next. It is conventional and rarely causes problems. Another edge case that trips people up involves predeceased family members. The template does not have a dedicated field for this, so you either fold it into the narrative or leave it out entirely. Including it takes up valuable space in the free version. From what I have seen, most people skip it unless it is someone notable or there is a specific reason to mention them. If you do include it, keep it brief: "predeceased by her husband John and brother Michael." Do not list twenty names. It looks cluttered and wastes the word count.

Common Mistakes That Waste Time

The biggest issue I see repeatedly is people writing the obituary as if it is a resume. Full dates of birth, exact addresses, employment history going back to 1978. None of that belongs in an obituary. The template is designed for a condensed life summary, not a biographical directory. Strip it down to what matters for the funeral and the memorial. Age, residence, key relationships, service details, and where to send flowers or donations. Photo uploads are another friction point. The free template allows one photo, and the file has to meet specific size requirements. I have lost count of how many times someone tries to upload a four-megabyte image and the system rejects it. Resize it to under two megabytes before uploading. Use any basic image editor or even a free online compressor. The NWI Times site does not give clear instructions on this, which is frustrating. The submission process itself is not instant. Once you fill out the form, it goes through a basic review before publishing. This usually takes somewhere between four and twenty-four hours depending on the volume they are handling. If you need it up urgently, call their office directly. The phone number is on the same page as the template, and a quick conversation can speed things along significantly.

What the Free Template Cannot Do

The free version has real limitations. No gallery photos beyond the single image. No video tribute integration. No custom layout or font choices. If you want multiple family photos or a video montage, you are looking at a paid placement, which runs considerably more expensive. The difference between free and paid is stark once you start comparing the outputs side by side. Another limitation is the lack of interactive features. Paid obituaries sometimes include guest book functionality where readers can leave condolences directly on the page. The free template does not offer this. If guest comments matter to your family, factor that into the decision. Otherwise, people can still reach out through regular channels like email or phone. There is also the question of long-term availability. Free obituaries on NWI Times do stay online, but I have noticed they sometimes get buried in archive searches after a year or two. Paid placements tend to stay more visible in the obituary index. This is not a dealbreaker for most people, but if you want the obituary to be easily findable for genealogy research or family records, it is worth considering.

My general recommendation is to use the free template if you have a straightforward obituary to write and budget is tight. It covers the essentials adequately. Spend the money on a paid version only if you need multiple photos, a guest book, or maximum visibility. Both paths work. The free version just requires more attention to detail during the writing phase because you do not have extra space to burn.