Losing a loved one is a traumatic event; it is one of the most painful events in anyone’s life. Having lost a child, my mother, father and a brother, along with many other relatives and close friends, I have felt the effects of death and how it totally changes our lives. The pain is real and great and this newspaper respects that to the highest degree.
Following my father’s example, this newspaper will continue to run obituaries for free. My father, Sammy Franklin, instituted policies that sought to help memorialize those in our parish who die with the greatest respect for not only the deceased, but also for the family who is enduring with the pain of having to say goodbye to someone they love. We have even taken the extraordinary step to take obituaries from the web sites of local funeral homes, usually with their thanks. However, times have changed. Not everyone wants their obituary run in the newspaper.
We want to respect the wishes of those families, and so, beginning June 1, 2024, we will only publish obituaries that are submitted to our paper. But we will still publish them for free, because we are of your community, and for our community.
Our community paper is one of the very few that publishes obituaries in our newspaper free of charge. Although other newspapers may see it as a revenue stream, we see it as a public service to our community and will continue to keep running obituaries for free.
As a newspaper, we do our best to stay current. While social media has provided instant notification of deaths in our area, it is the newspaper, the journal of record, that allows those obituaries to be archived for history. With a deadline of Monday morning for obituaries, we do our best to get obituaries from the previous week in the next available issue to stay current.
Our revised policy deals with the way in which obituaries are retrieved for publication. Effective June 1, 2024, all obituaries must be received either through USPS mail, email, telephone call or in person from the funeral home that is handling the death arrangements, or from the immediate family member of the deceased (in priority of spouse, children, etc.). We are dedicated to maintaining the highest legal and professional standards.
This means our community must help: we need your permission or official notification and copy of your loved one’s obituary either from you or from the funeral home before we are permitted to print in the newspaper.
We have some great funeral home directors in this area and most work well with us in making sure we get obituaries in a timely manner. However, there are some that are slower than others – and sometimes a family may have to wait an additional week before the tribute to their loved one appears in the paper.
Our advice to all families is to make sure you give your funeral home permission and request they immediately send the obituary to The Jena Times.
If a family does not want to have their loved one’s obituary to be published in the newspaper, tell the funeral home and they will not send it to us.
Or, you can simply send the obituary to us at your convenience. Beginning June 1, 2024, we will only publish obituaries sent to us by funeral homes or from an immediate family member of the deceased.
