When a community loses a public figure, the grief is shared and public. The deceased person touched many lives and will continue to impact loved ones and community members well into the future. In our digital world it simply isn’t enough to have a public memorial service managed by the family, and an obituary for out-of-towners to read.
For well-loved public figures, it’s best practice to create a public memorial page or online memorial for community members to see, contribute to, and share via social media. An accessible memorial website allows people from all locations and walks of life to honor the life and death of a significant person, and to offer their condolences.
What is an Online Memorial?
An online memorial is a tribute to a lost loved one that includes photos, videos, memories, condolences, their obituary, funeral service arrangements, and more. A memorial website makes it easy for friends, family, colleagues, and the community to access memorial service information (such as where to send a donation or flowers) and to share the things they wish to remember about the loved one.
You can think about a memorial site as an online obituary, tribute page, online funeral guest book, memorial wall, and submission form for photos and memories.
Read more: 7 Reasons You Need a Memorial Website
A Tribute to a Stanford Fellow
Dr. Steve Coutre had quite an impact in the world of Standford medicine. For students, colleagues, and the medical community, Dr. Coutre was a guiding hand and dedicated fellow. His passing required more than just an obituary and memorial service.
Using a Kudoboard memorial page, Stanford colleagues created a space for the community to share their condolence, add memories, upload photos and videos of their time with Dr. Coutre, and share parts of Dr. Coutre’s life that his family might not have seen. Attending the funeral or visiting the funeral home for a viewing wasn’t possible for all of the students and faculty, but an online memorial meant they could share their grief and love—no matter their location or schedule.
The messages were absolutely incredible.
Your positive impact lives on with the generations of fellows that you helped to train, the memories that your colleagues have of you, and with your many patients who benefited enormously from your care. Thank you for all that you did for us.
Linda
We remember Steve so fondly – we all shared patients with him – he was always helpful with the medical issues, so much fun to interact with, so bright, energetic and SO kind. A deep personal loss to us and to patients.
Palo Alto Clinic
See the full memorial website here.
A Kudoboard online memorial provides a space to gather precious photos, unseen videos, and incredible memories as you process your grief of a tremendous loss. The memorial site will continue to provide comfort, as you’ll have access to everything posted in perpetuity. We’re honored to be part of your most important life events, and offer our condolences for Dr. Coutre and the Stanford community. Thank you for letting us highlight your inspiring memorial.
