Leaving a Family Legacy: Your Obituary

An important gift you can leave for your family is the gift of information for your obituary. Far from being morbid, it’s a chance to leave all the important details of your life in a place where your family can find them when the time comes. You can leave information, tell a story, leave a list of friends to notify, your final wishes, or anything you like to help your family honor your passing. Let’s talk about it, learn about ways to do it and share some stories and hopefully a few laughs along the way.

Presenter Patti Stammer is a local photographer, teacher, and writer, who has raised her family in Humboldt County. “When my daughter recently helped her in-laws write an obituary for a beloved grandfather, she asked how I would feel about writing mine now, since our family realized they didn’t know a lot of my history or final thoughts. And that led to many discussions on how, when, what to say and what to do with it when you’re finished.” 

Presenter and veteran newspaperman Jack Durham, with 30 years of journalism experience, is the editor and publisher of the Mad River Union. Durham started his journalism career at Cal Poly Humboldt and worked as a reporter for the student newspaper, The Lumberjack. After college he worked as a stringer for the Willits News, then as a full-time reporter for the Daily Democrat in Woodland. He returned to Arcata in 1994 and became the news editor of the Arcata Union. In 1996, he started the McKinleyville Press, which merged with the Arcata Eye in 2013 and became the Mad River Union.

 

 

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