[Last update 7 June 1997
- Jean Suplick Matuson, project coordinator, webmaster@chartiers.com]
Here is the obituary abstract template I promised.
A couple important things to know and consider are:
1. Be accurate when filling in the blanks. I suggest we use the
old "copy & paste" method for filling in the blanks. That is,
copy the appropriate text out of the obit and paste it in the approprate
field in the template. In cases where the cemetery name or funeral home name
is given but its town is not explcitly stated, don't make any assumptions,
just don't put location.
2. If a particular piece of informataion is missing, just leave a blank
in the template field.
3. Cemetery and funeral home info will be in the death notice rather than
the obituary, but as you've all probably seen, the death notices appear
on the www.observer-reporter.com webpage too. They may not appear on the
same day though, so we should capture them too.
4. In your word processor, use the Courier or New Courier font. If you use
tabs, make sure you set your tabs to match the template. That way all our
work will look the same and it will be easier to put on the web.
5. Collect your week's worth of work into a single file and email it to me
when you're done. You will need to "save as" a "text document" (those are
the phrases Microsoft WordPad uses.
6. There are no deadlines on this work. We're all doing this in our spare time,
I know. As a goal, let's shoot for getting the abstracts mailed within three
weeks, in other words, before your next turn comes up.
7. Don't forget to put your abstractor's ID at the end of each abstraction. See
http://www.chartiers.com/worobits/org.html for your ID.
8. Let me know if you have questions or ideas. We can discuss them among
us and come up with solutions.
Here is the template. For visual purposes, I'd like to separate
each one with a blank line and row of dashes.
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Name: [including any nicknames given]
Home: [city, state or county, state; no address necessary]
Birth: [date and place if given]
Parents: [names]
Spouse: [including nicknames if given]
Marriage: [date and place if given]
Death: [date and place if given, hospital name not necessary unless
it's the only clue we have]
Cemetery: [cemetery name and location; date not necessary]
Funeral home: [name and city/state; street addr not necessary]
Living kin: [names, relationships, locations; only list named persons]
Deceased kin: [names, relationships, locations]
[abstractor's three letter ID]
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Now here is an example of an obituary and funeral notice that appeared today:
Friday, June 6, 1997
George Clemons
W.W.II Army vet worked at McGraw-Edison
George William Clemons, 70, of 639 Euclid Avenue,
Canonsburg, died Wednesday, June 4, 1997, in Canonsburg
General Hospital. He was born February 8, 1927, a son of
William and Margaret Davis Clemons.
He was a lifelong area resident and a member of Westland
Baptist Church. Prior to his retirement in 1979, he was employed
by McGraw-Edison as a grinder and served with the United
States Army during World War II.
His wife, Elsie Hemphill Kemp Clemons, died in January 1991.
Surviving are five sons, Roland Steele and Robert Steele, both of
Pittsburgh; George Clemons, Jr. of Bridgeville; William Clemons
and David Clemons, both of Canonsburg; five daughters,
Lavonne Scott of Steubenville, Ohio; Lacreece Clemons of
Pittsburgh; Margaret Clemons and Cheryl Law-Clemons, both of
Canonsburg and Lori Clemons-Turner of Fredericksburg, Va.;
one brother, Robert Jones of Bridgeville; one sister, Ivory
Haygood of Canonsburg; and 16 grandchildren, several great
grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
One son, Daniel Clemons, is deceased.
CLEMONS - Friends of George William Clemons, of
Canonsburg, who died Wednesday, June 4, 1997 will be
received from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Sunday in the Sollon Funeral Home, Ltd., 30 East College
Street, Canonsburg, J. David Sollon, director, where services
will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, June 9, 1997, with Rev. Allen
Middleton, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Westland,
officiating. Burial in Forest Lawn Gardens.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: George William Clemons
Home: Canonsburg, PA
Birth: February 8, 1927
Parents: William and Margaret Davis Clemons
Spouse: Elsie Hemphill Kemp Clemons (d. January 1991)
Marriage:
Death: June 4, 1997 in Canonsburg, PA
Cemetery: Forest Lawn Gardens
Funeral home: Sollon Funeral Home, Ltd., Canonsburg, PA
Living kin: Five sons, Roland Steele and Robert Steele,
both of Pittsburgh; George Clemons, Jr. of Bridgeville;
William Clemons and David Clemons, both of Canonsburg;
five daughters, Lavonne Scott of Steubenville, Ohio; Lacreece
Clemons of Pittsburgh; Margaret Clemons and Cheryl Law-Clemons,
both of Canonsburg and Lori Clemons-Turner of Fredericksburg, Va.;
one brother, Robert Jones of Bridgeville; one sister, Ivory
Haygood of Canonsburg;
Deceased kin: Son, Daniel Clemons
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