What should an obituary include?
An obituary is a record, not a tribute speech — its job is to inform, accurately and respectfully. At minimum, that means a full name, dates of birth and death, where they lived, and who survives them. Beyond that, a short account of their work or life's focus, and the details of any service, give readers — many of whom may not have known them well — a real sense of who this person was.
A structure that works
Full name, age, and place → date and manner of passing (as much as the family chooses to share) → a paragraph on their life, work, or what they were known for → surviving family, and anyone who predeceased them → service details, or where to send condolences.
How long should it be?
Most published obituaries run 200 to 450 words. Newspapers often charge by the line beyond a free minimum, and memorial sites vary in what they display without truncation — so it helps to write a complete draft first, then trim to whatever length the publication requires, rather than writing short and adding facts back in under pressure.
Getting the facts right, under time pressure
Obituaries are almost always written in the first day or two after a death, alongside dozens of other urgent decisions. It's easy to leave out a stepchild, misstate a job title, or forget the name of the church. LokalText asks for each detail directly — name, dates, place, family, service — so nothing gets missed simply because there wasn't time to think of it.
Obituary or eulogy — which do you need?
An obituary is the written record: dates, biography, family, typically published in a paper or online. A eulogy is the spoken tribute at the service itself — more personal, less structured around fact, focused on who someone was rather than a chronology of what they did. Many families write both, and they read very differently on purpose.