How To Write an Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech made at a funeral or memorial service for someone who
has died that describes the person and gives details of their life and what made them special to the speaker.
A eulogy helps people remember their loved one in a special way, and it allows others to share their grief and make
peace with the person's death. The speech is generally written by family or close friends and contains anecdotes
and fond memories.
Step 1: Collect your thoughts
Take some time to write down memories, ideas, and thoughts about the deceased. This is an exercise to clear your
head, calm your mind, and begin thinking about the deceased and put your ideas on paper.
Step 2: Choose a theme or main idea
Decide how you will present the stories and ideas. You may find that there is a main idea or theme in many of
the stories and anecdotes you have noted down. For example, if the person was an avid computer enthusiast you
may have a story or two about how this person stayed awake for several days working on his latest computer project.
You may also choose to simply present facts about the person in a chronological order and present the material as
it relates to you.
Step 3: Add quotes, poems, and biblical references
After you have decided on a theme or a way to present your ideas, you should include quotes, poems or biblical
references. Choose what is meaningful to you and the person that died. If there is someone that the deceased
admired greatly throughout their life and relates to your main theme this is a good choice for a quote source.
Step 4: Finishing touches and editing
The last stage of writing your eulogy is to decide how to order your anecdotes, stories and quotes, and to make
edits as needed. You will need to decide which stories to keep in your final draft, and which stories to
delete. Keep in mind that you will probably have as little as 2 minutes or up to 10 minutes to speak.
Step 5: Practice
The last step of writing your eulogy is to practice
speaking it aloud several times before the funeral. It is an emotional event and practicing before the
funeral will make it easier for you to keep your mind calm and thoughts clear when you read the speech.
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