Understanding Obituary Services at Kohls Funeral Home
Local funeral homes publish obituaries as part of their standard service, and Kohls Funeral Home in Waupun handles this much like everyone else does. You call or visit, provide the details, and they draft something that gets posted online and sometimes in newspapers. That is the basic process. It works well enough for most families. The obituary practice at this particular funeral home follows a fairly standard Wisconsin procedure. When I went through this process for my own family some years back, I learned a few things that were not obvious going in. First, you need to decide whether you want it published locally or online only, because the costs differ significantly. Local newspaper placement typically runs between $150 and $400 depending on length and how long the paper keeps it up. Online-only obituaries through their own website cost significantly less, usually around $50 to $100, and they stay live indefinitely. I encountered a problem one time where the obituary I submitted had the wrong date of birth because the family had two different records floating around. The funeral home caught it before publication, but if they had not, it would have been embarrassing for everyone. Always double-check every date and name spelling against official documents before signing off. Bring a copy of the death certificate if you have it. That way you are working from something concrete instead of memory.
Another thing people miss is that the military honors section requires separate documentation. If your loved one served, you can get a flag and honor guard through the VA, but the obituary itself needs specific wording and proof of service to properly acknowledge that. The funeral director can handle this, but you need to provide the DD-214 or equivalent paperwork upfront. Without it, you cannot include full military details even if the person was a decorated veteran. What to prepare before contacting the funeral home:
- Full legal name and any nicknames the person used
- Date of birth and date of passing
- Names of surviving family members, listed in standard order
- Information about predeceased relatives
- Church or organization affiliations
- Whether you want a public viewing or private service only
- Donation preferences instead of flowers, if applicable
The actual writing process usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes with the funeral director. They will ask questions and fill in the template based on your answers. Some people like to draft their own version first, which is fine. Most directors will incorporate it or use it as a starting point. I have seen families bring in typed pages and others just talk through everything. Both work, but bringing notes tends to speed things up and reduce the chance of forgetting someone important. One counterintuitive detail: you do not need to include the cause of death. In Wisconsin, obituaries are not legal documents. They are personal tributes, and many families choose not to mention medical details. This is completely normal. Directors will not push you one way or the other on this. If you need to update an existing obituary after it is posted, contact the funeral home directly. Changes to times, locations, or additional survivor information can usually be made within a few hours. However, if the obituary was also published in a newspaper, that version cannot be modified. Newspapers lock their content once it runs. Stick all future updates to the online version.
Get the Full Details
For immediate needs, call Kohls Funeral Home during business hours. Their regular phone line is available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM, with 24-hour coverage on weekends and holidays for active arrangements. Obituary submissions can typically be turned around same-day if you provide the information early enough in the process. Late afternoon requests sometimes push publication to the next day, which matters if you are trying to coordinate service timing. There is no universal template that works perfectly everywhere. Personalization matters more than following a rigid format. The families who handle this best are the ones who spend a little time thinking about what their loved one actually cared about, then make sure that shows up in the obituary rather than copying a generic version from somewhere else.
