Lastly, obits mention who has survived the deceased and who preceded them in death. He was a lifetime member of the International Order of Odd Fellows. She kept a vegetable garden. However, it's important to remember that the details included in an obit are chosen by the deceased's friends and family. These details are what distinguishes the obit from a tombstone.
Obituaries are very subjective.
They are composed of a collage of individuals' recollections of a person. Perhaps this is also part of the appeal of placing an obit in a medium like a newspaper because it forces people to move on by acknowledging that the obit is a onetime event. We joked about writing the obits in the newsroom and complained when an unusually large amount of people died in one day. To write obits without emotion was a strange thing, somehow denying a bit of humanity in grieving for someone I didn't know. I always felt exhausted and wrung-out after writing several obits, happy to come up for some air and return to the land of the living.