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Celebrating Life with Obituaries

Susan Soper

Susan Soper is the founder and author of ObitKit®, A Guide to Celebrating Your Life. She began her long career in journalism at Newsday, the Long Island paper, as a researcher in the Washington Bureau where she contributed to The Heroin Trail, a Pulitzer prize-winning series. As a reporter in New York, she wrote news and features while covering cultural affairs and personalities. Returning to Atlanta by way of Hilton Head, S.C., she was a writer for CNN before becoming the Features Editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While there, she launched a series called, "Living with Grief," shortly after her father died. Susan's interests include travel, hiking, reading, the arts and people (dead and alive). She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Bo Holland.

ObitKit®, A Guide to Celebrating Your Life
If you’ve ever faced the “Now what?” questions that come when someone dies, you know the value of knowing how to proceed:

• How do you want to be remembered?
• What are the accurate details to highlight in the death notice?
• What kind of service, music, readings suits you?

ObitKit® allows you to personalize the obituary process while creating a written legacy to leave family and friends.

Susan Soper's Blog

Dealing With Death Can Prove So Innovative

Posted on October 16, 2014 at 2:34pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

Just when we think we’ve seen or heard it all about death these days, there is more to learn, to love and to laugh at about the way people are impacted and/or reacting to life’s final moments. Funerals are lightening up, obituaries are good reads going viral, dying days sometimes feature celebrations with friends, people’s…

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Dressing for Your Own Funeral

Posted on October 10, 2014 at 9:49am 3 Comments 1 Like

The fashion shows recently rolled out in New York, London and Milan reminded me of a fashion show of an entirely different sort I attended last year in Montana. It was during a week of seminars and workshops on aging issues, and I was invited to present ObitKit: A Guide to Celebrating Your Life, which I created to help people chronicle their…

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Wow! That's in an Obituary Notice?!

Posted on September 5, 2014 at 2:21pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

Most people know what basic information to include in a good obituary: birth and death dates, cause of death, education, career, passions and hobbies, personality traits, unusual skills or interests.

But there is so much more to a person’s full life that will make people remember reading about them. Those are the gems that are unpredictable, quirky, astonishing – the things you might have liked talking about to…

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Obituaries, Reunions and Alumni Magazines

Posted on September 3, 2014 at 2:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

As parents are sending their students off to school these days, many might also be preparing for their own high school and college reunions this fall. They are happy times to reunite, remember, celebrate old friendships and forge new ones.

On a more sobering note, it is also a time to find out who is missing,…

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Classes About Death Lend Meaning to Life

Posted on July 30, 2014 at 10:30am 1 Comment 0 Likes

In yet another example of how death is creeping more and more into our collective conversations – openly, candidly and practically – a number of college level courses are being offered on the topic. And not just for future morticians! Philosophical, forward thinking and cathartic, even, here are just a few examples of current course…

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At 2:02pm on July 7, 2012, John Hipple said…: A great tribute to Nora Ephron, Susan. What I'll miss... The sound of squeaky sneakers on a basketball court--any court. The end of a round of golf on a hot afternoon. New places. Longtime friends. Sister Ann.

At 8:43pm on January 16, 2012, Kristina Pentecost said…: Hi Susan;

I just joined the group today and I thought you would be helpful in my situation. I was adopted as an infant and my adoptive father just passed away on Dec. 1, 2011. I was "deleted" from the obit by the rest of the biological family.

I was born as an addicted baby and almost died. This left me with disabilities that I struggle to overcome on a daily basis, but with a little help and a lot of encouragement and compassion from friends and in-laws (I got married 2 yrs. ago) I have been doing well in life. They have been an encouragement to me with their positive reinforcement, which is a whole lot more productive than in finger-pointing and criticism, which I had experienced all my life.

Despite having knowledge of my disabilities, the family who adopted me made demands of me that I was never able to attain and because I didn't "measure up" to those expectations, they declared me as a disappointment, as though I were deliberately trying to "hurt" them.

Two Christmases ago, they wrote me off. I tried to visit my dad in the hospital before he passed away, but was not permitted to do so by his biological family. The grief of his death has been made more profound by this rejection, by not being included in the obituary in the paper, and by having been banned from attending the funeral. The family told me that as far as they're concerned I am dead to them.

~*Kristina*~

At 1:44pm on May 10, 2011, Carl Mathis said…: Hey Susan, just stopping by to say be encourage, You are in my prayers, be bless and have a wonderful day.

Carl