Obituary Examples

Margaret Ann Foley, 84, of Beloit, Wisconsin, died peacefully at home on March 4, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Born June 12, 1941 in Rockford, Illinois, to Thomas and Alice Kearney, Margaret worked for twenty-nine years as a school librarian at Beloit Memorial. She loved her garden, her grandchildren, and a good crossword.

She is survived by her children, Daniel (Sara) and Kathleen Ruiz; five grandchildren; and her sister, Ruth Kearney. She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, at St. Brigid of the Prairie Catholic Church.

Robert James Whitaker, 79, of Marietta, Georgia, passed away on January 18, 2026, after a short illness.

Bob was born September 2, 1946 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He served four years in the United States Navy, then spent thirty-one years as a lineman for the power company. He never missed a grandchild’s ball game.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-four years, Carol; his sons, Michael and Andrew (Priya); and four grandchildren.

Visitation will be held Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ashcroft-Pruitt Funeral Home.

Eleanor “Nell” Whitcomb, 91, of Portland, Maine, died on May 2, 2026.

Nell was born in Bangor on April 9, 1935, taught fourth grade for thirty-four years, and read every mystery novel the public library owned.

She is survived by her daughter, Frances Doyle, and two granddaughters.

At Nell’s request, there will be no formal service. The family asks that you plant something, or tell someone a good story about her.

Robert James “Bob” Whitaker, 79, of Marietta, Georgia, died on Sunday, January 18, 2026, after a short illness.

Bob was born on September 2, 1946 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to James and Ruby Whitaker. He graduated from Brainerd High School in 1964 and enlisted in the United States Navy, serving four years aboard the USS Yorktown.

He came home, married Carol Ann Simmons in 1971, and went to work as a lineman for the power company, where he stayed for thirty-one years. He was proud of that work and of the men he worked alongside, particularly during the ice storm of 1993, when he was gone from home for eleven days.

Bob coached Little League for twelve seasons. He kept a garden he described as “mostly weeds,” fished the Etowah River badly and happily, and was the first person to arrive whenever anyone needed help moving.

He is survived by Carol, his wife of fifty-four years; his sons, Michael Whitaker of Marietta and Andrew Whitaker (Priya) of Atlanta; four grandchildren, Ella, Sam, Nina and Wren; and his sister, Judy Coleman. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Wayne.

Visitation will be held Friday, January 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ashcroft-Pruitt Funeral Home. A service will follow at 11:00 a.m. Saturday at Laurel Creek United Methodist Church, with military honors at Etowah Ridge Veterans Cemetery.

Deborah Lynn Okafor, 61, of Silver Spring, Maryland, died on February 27, 2026, at home, surrounded by her family, after two years of living well with cancer.

Debbie was born on August 14, 1964 in Newark, New Jersey, to Frank and Loretta Bianchi. She earned her nursing degree from Rutgers in 1986 and spent thirty-four years in labor and delivery, the last twenty-two of them at a community hospital in Silver Spring. She estimated she had helped bring more than four thousand children into the world, and she remembered a startling number of them.

She met Chidi Okafor in 1990 in a hospital cafeteria and married him fourteen months later. They raised three children, hosted an open house every New Year’s Day, and traveled to a new national park every summer until she could not.

Debbie was funny in a way that took people by surprise, kept an immaculate house and a chaotic car, and could not walk past a dog without stopping.

She is survived by her husband, Chidi; her children, Amara, Ifeanyi and Grace; her mother, Loretta Bianchi; and her brother, Frank Bianchi Jr.

A celebration of Debbie’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, at Woodside Park. Please wear something bright.

Beatrice “Bea” Coleman, 96, of Charleston, South Carolina, went home to be with the Lord on April 11, 2026.

Mother Coleman was born on November 3, 1929 in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to the late Willie and Ida Mae Simmons. She moved to Charleston at nineteen, married Deacon Samuel Coleman in 1951, and together they raised six children on Nassau Street.

She joined Greater Mercy Seat Missionary Baptist Church in 1952 and never left it. She served on the usher board for forty-one years, cooked for every repast anyone could remember, and could quiet a room of grandchildren with a single look.

She is survived by her children, Samuel Jr., Gloria Hayes, Bernice Cooper, Ronald and Vanessa Coleman; twenty-two grandchildren; forty-one great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Deacon Samuel Coleman, and her son, Michael.

Homegoing services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 18, at Greater Mercy Seat Missionary Baptist Church. The family will receive friends Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Pringle-Wade Home for Funerals.

Nathaniel “Nate” Alonzo Reyes, 34, of Tucson, Arizona, died on July 22, 2026, in a cycling accident on Mount Lemmon.

Nate was born on May 30, 1992 in Tucson, the youngest child of Alonzo and Maria Reyes. He was, from the beginning, the loudest and the kindest person in every room he entered, and he did not consider these to be in tension.

He graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School in 2010 and from the University of Arizona in 2014 with a degree in environmental science. He worked for a desert conservation nonprofit for six years and had recently joined Pima County’s water resources office, where he was three months into a job he described, without irony, as the best one he could imagine.

Nate rode his bike everywhere, including places where a bike was not the sensible choice. He cooked enormous meals for people who had not asked for them. He coached a middle-school robotics team on Thursday evenings for five years and never once mentioned it unless asked.

He married Sofia Trejo in 2021 at her grandmother’s house in Nogales, in a ceremony that ran ninety minutes long because too many people wanted to speak.

He is survived by his wife, Sofia; his parents, Alonzo and Maria Reyes; his sisters, Camila Reyes and Isabel Ochoa (Danny); his nephews, Mateo and Luca; and more friends than this notice can hold.

A vigil will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31, at St. Brendan of the Rincons Catholic Church. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 1, at the same church.

In place of flowers, the family asks that you donate to a local bike-safety group, or that you take someone you love on a long ride and stop for breakfast halfway.