Obituary editorials offer brief look at life

THE DEAD, says the Irish writer Benedict Kiely, hover over the living.

I know this to be true from personal experience. As an editorial writer for the Anchorage Daily News, I have tried to bring the dead to life, if only for a moment.

The obituary editorial can be long or short, detailed, or a sketch. It can be about the powerful and the influential or the eccentric and almost forgotten.

The key to a successful editorial is authenticity. Obviously most writers won't know or will barely have met many of the people they write about. Nevertheless, the writer has to convince the reader that, in some way, he knows the deceased.

It seems arrogant to have an opinion about somebody's life, but the obituary editorial is not so much an opinion as a piece of biography.

An old jazzman once said, "There is only one success in life. To live your life in your own way." The best of the obituary editorials will offer a brief encounter with someone who did just that.

The worst obituary editorials are those that seem obligatory. A few years ago, a colleague wrote about a powerful but odious state legislator who died suddenly. The lawmaker's nickname was "Pig." The writer had to say something - flags were at half mast across Alaska. Summoning courage, he composed a few lines that said, in effect, yep, the man was a legislator, and yep, he served his constituents for years, and yep, he died.

This is what you get when you are compelled to speak but can't speak the truth.

Also remember, fact checking is crucial. You don't want the grieving family raging at your doorstep. And you certainly don't want to hear from the dead man himself.

Rudyard Kipling got up one morning and discovered his death in the local newspaper. Taking pen to paper, Kipling sent a note to the editor: "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."

Tell us about your problem and how you solved it. Even if you haven't solved it, share the problem. Maybe someone else will offer a solution.

Your contribution may be 500 words long, but it doesn't have to be. If you can describe your problem or solution in just 150 words, more power to you! Send all contributions to:

Barbara Mantz Drake, Editorial Page Editor The Journal Star, 1 News Plaza, Peoria IL 61643 Phone 309/686-3133 Fax 309/686-3296 E-mail: bdrake@ns.pjstar.com

NCEW member Michael Carey is editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News.

Copyright MASTHEAD National Conference of Editorial Writers Winter 1998
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