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Aging Resource Center Events

Fri
11
Feb

VIRTUAL – Mingling Sincerely My Tears with Yours: Condolence letters, obituaries, and other death writing considered

  • Friday, February 11, 2022
  • 10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Virtual event

This is a virtual event. If you have questions about how to connect to the event, please contact the event host.

Leader: Lee Webster, BA

Lee Webster is nationally known as a funeral reform advocate and educator, and the author of several home funeral and green burial books, including Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate and environmentally sustainable green funeral service and The Future of the Corpse: Our Changing Ecologies of Death and Disposition. She guest lectures at colleges, universities, senior and adult education programs, and mortuary schools throughout New England.

 

This program is composed of the following two classes.
2/11 You Know You Should: Writing Meaningful Condolence Letters
Your mother told you it’s the polite thing to do. Your teacher taught you how to lay it out on the page. But what, exactly, is the right thing to say when writing condolence notes? We’ll take a look at some famous—and infamous—condolence letters written by presidents, authors, and celebrities to see how we can avoid the pitfalls and rise to the occasion with sincerity and panache when reaching out to others when a loved one dies.

2/25 The Stories of Our Lives: Writing Authentic Obituaries
Writing obituaries used to be about letting people know the death occurred, a list of life accomplishments, then where to send flowers. But obituary writers have taken a turn in recent years, using this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to paint a true picture of who this person was, what gifts and foibles they brought to the key relationships in their lives, and much more. We’ll study the craft of writing death notices by the book—and how to break the rules.

You may attend one of them or both.

You will receive a zoom link for this class 60 minutes before the class starts. The zoom link will be sent directly from the Aging Resource Center to the email you registered with.