The Obit

By Sanderson Tattersall

My father, Harvey Tattersall III, who passed in November of 2022

Here’s an idea for the next time you have a reflective minute. Start working on your obituary. It may seem like an obvious and pedantic exercise. Maybe it is. But my obituary is all I can think about lately.

After my father’s recent passing, I had to write my father’s obituary. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever written. Mostly because obituaries are short. Constricting. Limiting. 79 years needed to be compressed into three highly formatted and formal paragraphs. They are a highlight reel of accomplishments, nothing more, and in no way do they tell the story.

Sample Obit Starter

Our relationship was complex. That’s what I say anyway. It was one of divorce, distance, denial, and now death. I was never able to spend the kind of time I wanted with my father. He kept moving farther and farther away and I stayed put. Just one of a million similar stories. It’s not even really tragic comparatively speaking, but for me, it was incredibly sad and I spent a lifetime sweeping my emotions under the rug.

What did I learn from writing this? Nothing about our time together on earth. That’s fodder for my therapist’s couch. Job security as they say. But through his virtues and flaws, the love and…