Eulogies, a gentle library.

A eulogy is one of the hardest pieces of writing you will ever do. It is short. It is public. It is for someone you love. It needs to be true, but not too true. It needs to be ready by Thursday.

The pages below are the result of years of helping families find the words. Some are about the basic mechanics of writing a eulogy. Others are written for a specific relationship, like a mother, a son, or a coworker. Some are written for the hardest cases, when the relationship was complicated, when the cause of death was sudden, or when the person who died was a baby.

If you have never written a eulogy before, start with how to write a eulogy. If your name is on the program and the service is in three days, read short eulogy for a funeral. If you are nervous about delivering it without crying, read how to read a eulogy without crying.

Most families we work with read three or four of these guides in an evening, take notes on a phone, and write a first draft the next morning. The first sentence is the hardest. Once you have that, the rest tends to follow.

When you are ready, Stillwith can help you draft yours. The questions Stillwith asks are the same ones a good chaplain would ask at a kitchen table. The first draft takes about fifteen minutes. It is free to begin.