Newspapers offer obituary alternatives

Facebook isn’t the only virtual memorial. Sites like Legacy.com provide a place for grieving… Facebook isn’t the only virtual memorial. Sites like Legacy.com provide a place for grieving friends and family to post pictures, messages and information about the deceased.

When Penn Hills police officer Michael Crawshaw was fatally shot last month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette linked to a virtual memorial on Legacy.com, inviting users to leave their condolences. Within 48 hours, 111 readers had left comments for Crawshaw’s family. In the peak period, the day after Crawshaw’s death, 25 messages appeared on Crawshaw’s memorial each hour.

“We chose to invite people to comment on Officer Crawshaw’s death because we knew from experience it was the type of event that would provoke a communal response,” Sue Smith, managing editor of the Post-Gazette, said. “We see it as a way of allowing readers and viewers to share their thoughts with the families of the deceased and to connect with each other and with their communities at a time of sadness, confusion and loss.”

The Post-Gazette began linking these virtual memorials with certain print obituaries six years ago. Other papers, such as the New York Times, have been providing this service to all paid print obituaries.

Legacy.com boasts affiliations with 750 newspapers around the globe and says that it provides virtual memorials for more than two-thirds of people who die in the United States.