Buried treasure of storied lives

I love reading obituaries. But please don’t think that that means that I’m a morbid ghoul. Rather, it’s because I’m fascinated by people’s stories, in any form. And so, during my occasional times in the US and in Canada I lapped up the pages of obituaries in their newspapers – each usually accompanied by a photo and written by family members – which gave some insights into such a variety of lives, and well beyond the staple offerings in that section of our own papers, which are usually restricted to long lists of the sorrowful family members left behind, and give no inkling of what the departed one was like.

So, I was delighted to see a glimmer of the North American way in amongst the usual “Tributes and Celebrations” offerings, in the 10-11 July Sydney Morning Herald. I came across them because, as usual, I finish off at those pages in hopes of one of the fairly rare substantive obituaries being featured. Not this time. But, to my surprise, three of the personal tributes were accompanied by photos. And in one of them, the list of those left behind was followed by an engrossing account of the life of a remarkable man. Am I alone in hoping that that is the thin edge of a wedge opening the door to many more such informative tributes?

But wait, for those who are with me, it never rains but it pours. And it’s only now that I have also stumbled across a treasure trove of those substantive obituaries, by following my online Herald’s suggestion of browsing. So, scrolling further down its list of sections than usual, I came across one labelled “Obituaries”. My assumption was that it would be a collection of the typical entries from mourners, but I opened it up anyway. And was overwhelmed to find that it is a cornucopia of illuminating stories of so many rich and varied lives.

There, behind the heading of “TV presenter was also leading travel agent and mother of 10”, was the well-remembered Mary Rossi. David Holman turned out to be the author of Small Poppies, a play I’d enjoyed years ago. The remarkable contributions of John Lyle Christopherson were revealed in “Aboriginal leader defended land and ocean rights”. And lifelong achiever Marion von Adlerstein’s summary of her own life resonated with me on several levels, in saying that “I have never set myself goals. Instead, I’ve gravitated to what I needed by a magnetic pull.”

On one of those levels, that is exactly what this wonderful archive of Obituaries now has for me.

Anne Ring ©2021