Legacy Obituaries Oklahoma (2024)

FAQs

How do I find an old obituary in Oklahoma? ›

In OK, there is no legal mandate to publish an obituary in a newspaper when someone dies. The official state paperwork is a death certificate, which is filed with the state's office of vital statistics by a medical certifier or a licensed funeral home director, not by the family of the deceased individual.

The first paragraph of the obituary should include the deceased person's full name, including any nicknames they may have used, their age, date and place of death. Some people choose to include cause of death, but this is optional depending on how much information you would like to share.

Many funeral homes publish obituaries on their websites. These can usually be located with a Google search on the person's name. Local genealogical and historical societies, public libraries, and some newspaper publishers maintain clipping files of obituaries.

FREE PUBLIC INDEX SEARCH

OK2Explore is a free searchable public index of births and deaths that occurred in the state of Oklahoma. It includes information from records of births occurring in Oklahoma 20 or more years ago and records of deaths occurring in Oklahoma five or more years ago.

Each case has an available "Report of Investigation" prepared by the Medical Examiner. If an autopsy was performed, that report will also be available. There is a $10.00 fee for a non-autopsy case report and $20.00 fee for an autopsy case. Immediate family members will receive a complimentary copy by request.

Can You Bury a Body at Home? There are no state laws in Oklahoma that prohibit home burial, but local governments may have rules governing private burials. Before conducting a home burial or establishing a family cemetery, check with the town or county clerk to see if there are any zoning rules you must follow.

While there are many benefits to writing an obituary, there are also reasons why a family might not want to. Some may feel that it is too personal or private to share with the public, while others may not have the financial means to pay for its publication.

In most cases, obituaries do not include the names or nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, or in-laws unless they were close to the deceased. Grandchildren are sometimes listed but often numbered instead (…he leaves behind 5 grandchildren).

The obituary is typically written by the family (edited, then submitted, by the Funeral Director), so the cause of death is or isn't included by the direction of the family and not the newspaper.

Why would someone's obituary disappear? ›

What does it mean when you can't find an obituary? Well if you're looking in a newspaper for it & don't see it, that could mean the family didn't pay for it to appear in the paper. It's very expensive to put an obituary in newspapers. It could also mean the family chooses to keep it private.

Spouse. Children (in order of date of birth) Grandchildren. Siblings (in order of date of birth)

Read The Paper or Watch The Local News

If you receive a physical newspaper, review the obituaries section to see who recently passed. Searching for someone who died more than 30 days ago? Turn to sites like Google News Archives, US News Archives, or International News Archives.

An average obituary can easily be $200.00-500.00. Costs vary by publication. Newspapers charge by the line and can average $450 for a complete obituary. The average obituary cost begins at $200.00 and increases due to the amount of content, including a photograph and the length of the obituary.

As funeral homes across America post obituaries to their respective funeral home website, The Obituary App organizes them all into particular cities. Now, a user can look at all the obituaries posted by multiple funeral homes in one place. There are two obituary feeds within The Obituary App.

When writing an obituary for a woman who had a maiden name, simply write her first name and then in parentheses write her maiden name and then her married last name. For instance, Laura (Ingalls) Wilder, Marie (Sklodowska) Curie or Julia (McWilliams) Childs.

If all correct information is received upon the order and no additional service is required e.g. amendment, adoption; it takes about two (2) business days to get the order processed.

Oklahoma began filing birth records in October of 1908. It was not mandatory, however, that these records be filed until 1917.