Poem About Loss Of Loved One

Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Led Extraordinary Lives

by: Jim Sheeler

Amazon Price: $11.90 (as of 12/21/2009)

"Most of the people in this book will die before the fifth paragraph," Jim Sheeler informs us in the introduction to Obit. Sheeler, a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer for the Rocky Mountain News, has also been on the obituary beat for years and Obit is a sampling of his work there. Obituary writers are a dying breed. Only a handful of papers in the United States have a reporter out on the beat, finding people in the community whose lives they feel should be profiled and then spending hours going through shoeboxes and talking to people and fact-checking anecdotes and practical jokes. There is an art to the form, and Sheeler is one of the best contemporary practitioners in the United States. For most people, an obituary is the final account of a life, and to distill character, mission and the effect of a life takes a writer who understands the importance of the task and can establish character efficiently. Sheeler can do both. Take for example this line about a deli owner: "If Nick Papadakis heard a joke at 11:30 a.m., everyone on Main Street knew it by 1 o'clock," which establishes not only a propensity for the loquacious, but also Papadakis' place in the town fabric. Sometimes Sheeler's prose is so good that it transcends the individual's obituary to speak about mortality in general. Consider this passage: "Agate, population 70, is one of those towns that people describe as 'blink and you'll miss it.' Lois A. Engel loved living in the blink." Gale Walden lives in Urbana, Ill., and teaches at the University of New Orleans. She is the author of Same Blue Chevy --Chicago Sun-Times 6-13-2007

"Someone Is Missing (Female) Touching 8x10 Bereavement Poem, Double-matted in Burgundy Over Dark Green and Enhanced with Watercolor Graphics.

Amazon Price: $11.95 (as of 12/21/2009)

This quality product is 8 x 10 in size. It is double matted. The Verse is...... Someone Is Missing...... Let this be a loving reminder...... That someone is missing today,...... Someone our hearts still hold on to,...... As we travel along life's way....... Someone who made life so special,...... for all those who gather here,...... Someone who won't be forgotten,...... But cherished from year to year....... And now as we pause to remember,...... Let us all fondly recall,...... how dearly each of us loved her,...... And oh...how she loved us all!......