This month marks the four year anniversary of me processing obituaries for publication in The Daily World.

For my first 22 years here, I had worked exclusively in the newsroom — formatting honor rolls; birth, wedding and anniversary announcements; typing letters to the editor and news briefs; locating old articles and photos for the reporters or subscribers who called in and needed help with their research, and writing up the free death notices that were sent to us by funeral homes or families.

But in 2020, with the reduction in The Daily World staff, Editor Doug Barker informed me that in addition to my newsroom responsibilities I would be preparing obituaries for publication in our newspaper — to include formatting the text and photo into our publishing program and billing program, sending out invoices and processing payments before the obituary was published.

It took me several weeks to learn the new programs but fortunately, Leslie (who had previously been in charge of the obituaries and who fills in for me when I’m out of the office) was very patient with training me and never once got frustrated when I asked the same question over and over. Even now, four years later, I’ll still mess up something in the billing process and will have to tell the customer, “I don’t know what I did, but let me have Leslie help me out and I’ll call you back.”

Over the years I’ve received many phone calls from family members or friends who want to know the process of getting the word out that a loved one has passed away. I’m hoping this column will answer most of those questions.

The Daily World will publish a death notice for anyone who has lived on the Harbor. I can include the person’s name, age, date of death and where they died. I can also include a little information about their employment, and the details about a memorial/celebration of life service if one is scheduled. If they were no longer a resident here on the Harbor, I need some connection to our area: was the person born here, went to school here, worked here, etc. There’s no charge for the death notice but I am limited in what information I can include.

Obituaries are published as submitted to us, either by a funeral home or the family. The cost to publish an obituary in The Daily World is approximately 55-cents a word, and adding a photo adds $18-$22. Some funeral homes will include the cost of the published obituary in with their fees. Others will not, so be sure to check with them.

Once I format the text and photo into the billing program, I’ll send a proof to whoever is responsible for making the payment. Then once any necessary corrections are made and the obituary is paid for, I can schedule it for publication.

A couple of suggestions I have for you.

If possible, write your own obituary now or at least make a list of pertinent information you would like to have included in your (future) obituary: where you were born, your parents’ (and siblings’) names, where you went to school, employment history, hobbies, affiliations, specific requests you have about a memorial service or celebration of life (or no service at all), and if you have a preference about where monetary donations are sent.

If you are stressing out about writing an obituary, I offer this suggestion. Imagine you are having a conversation with a close friend and you are telling them about the deceased’s person’s life. Type out what you would tell your friend about the deceased and send it to me. It doesn’t have to be a literary work of art. No one is going to judge the sentence structure or punctuation. The focus should be on telling the person’s life story.

And you get to decide if you want to add a photo or not — or maybe even two photos — maybe one from high school and a current one. But it’s easier to locate them ahead of time, rather than searching through old photo albums or hundreds of pictures on your phone at the last minute.

Most important of all, remember you don’t have to do it alone. Folks at the local funeral homes — Coleman’s, Twibell’s Fern Hill or Harrison’s — are there to help and you can always contact me here at The Daily World.

Karen Barkstrom is the editorial assistant for The Daily World. She can be reached at 360-537-3925 or karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com. Death notices and obituaries may be submitted to obits@thedailyworld.com