…the “wife of” Obituary …

WIFE OF W. J. McKEOUGH-….”The Wife of” status- remembered in the Bodie Cemetery.

~~Obituaries are a rearview mirror, reflecting “the World as it was, not as it is, and not as one might wish it to have been.”  

~~There is only so much type space in a printed Newspaper. The “newsworthiness” of the Reported Death was to sum up the deceased life. The justification of the Obituary was in the Story- “the life summery” told.

~~The “intent” was never to honor the Dead, those Tributes were left to the Church Service Eulogists. 

~~The most newsworthy deaths were  about Elected Officials, Business Owners or Industry Titans. These mens “Deaths Notices” were generally reported in the Newspapers.

~~If an Elected Official, Business Owner or Industry Titan,  “Wife superseded her Husband in death,” the “deceased Wife Obituary,” usually reported details about  her husbands “financial success, or listed His accomplishments, or his heroic Military Actions.”

The  “the wife of Obituary” story —was about the Man she had married- his Family- his Social Standing, —his Civic Importance, —-his War Decorations to give Military Status. The Wife and children if “column room space” allowed,  would be mentioned “only if they were grown and noteworthy Adults.”  

~~The “wife of” life summery was of no interest, unless she had “died in childbirth. A tragic  “combined Death Notice and  a Surviving Child  Birth Announcement,”  was both, Newsworthy and justification for a “Wife” Obituary.”

~~The newly Widowed man- “her Husband was now a Story,” the Newspaper Obituary Editors , could share with the regular Newspaper  Reporters. 

A “Tragic Story” could be moved from  the Obituary Column, and be printed on the second or third page  in the Newspaper.