The obituary, made together
A life has more than one witness.
The obituary should too.
Writing an obituary is an honor, and it can be heavy. One person holds the pen: begin with one sentence, speak if typing is too much, and stop whenever you need. Obituate keeps your place.
When you are ready, family can check every name, date, relationship, and possible omission without changing your words. Different memories become explicit decisions. Together, the family decides what the public record will hold.
Care for families professionally? Bring Obituate into your practice.
Writing it, checking it, sending it round the family and getting it to the paper are free. No account, no trial, no card. What costs money is further down, and it is one payment for documents you keep.
No account. Nothing you write is uploaded. Your draft is saved only in this browser unless you choose to save a file.
A quiet writing room
Start with a few gentle questions or an open page. Type, speak, leave a part blank, or close it for now. There is no score and no pace to keep.
A family checking desk
Names, dates, relationships, and possible omissions are made explicit. A different memory can be heard without handing everyone the pen or changing the writer’s words.
The decision remains yours
Obituate does not generate or rewrite the obituary. Guided answers are placed together exactly as given. Checks inform; they do not decide. Any override is signed and carried into the fact sheet.
Private by design
The draft lives in this browser and in a file you keep. A family checking round travels in its link. Obituate has no account and no database of what you write.
Free, and staying free
Everything that makes the notice correct.
- Writing it, with the questions if you want them
- The fact ledger, and every check that runs against it
- Unlimited rounds through the family, by link
- Taking marks back, and changing your mind
- The plain text the paper wants, and the email to the desk
- The draft file, so it is not only in a browser
Not a trial and not a teaser. There is no server here to run up a bill, so there is nothing for us to start charging you for later.
The Kit
Four documents, on your disk, in formats nobody can revoke.
- The archive. The notice, every fact, who confirmed it, and Obituate itself, in one file that opens in twenty years with no internet.
- The submission packet. Everything the obituary desk asks for, on one page.
- The fact sheet. The signed record of who vouched for what. This is what settles it if the paper prints an error.
- The keepsake. The notice set as a page worth keeping, with the names of everyone who confirmed it at the foot.
One payment. It does not expire and it does not renew. If it is not possible this week, call us any time on (206) 617-1199 and ask for a key, or write to miranda@bainbridgedeathsupport.com. No means test, no explanation needed. Nobody should be doing arithmetic about their mother.
Nothing you type here is uploaded. Obituate has no account system and no database. If you are on a shared computer, use Save to file and then Remove from this browser when you finish.
Something wrong? Report a bug. It opens an email with the version and your browser filled in, which is most of what we need to find it. Please do not paste the notice into it — describe what happened instead. Nothing about the person you are writing about should have to leave your machine to get a bug fixed.
Obituate desk
The proof
Write a little or a lot. This can be weighty work. Obituate saves in this browser as you go and will tell you below if the browser refuses. Pause, leave something blank, or come back whenever you need.
Speak or type. If typing is too much, speak this part. On iPad, you can also use the microphone on the keyboard. Your browser or device handles the audio; Obituate keeps only the words that appear here.
Pause or leave this blank whenever you need. Save status appears below. Your device handles audio; Obituate keeps only words shown in this field.