How to write a eulogy: a simple guide and template

• Ask family members and close friends for one story each.
• Note the basics: where they were born, family, work, the places and people they loved.
• Write down the phrases they always said, their habits, their small quirks.
• Look at photos for moments you had forgotten.

1. Opening: who you are and your relationship to the person.
2. A short outline of their life: where they came from, what they did, who they loved.
3. Two or three qualities that defined them, each with a brief story.
4. What they meant to you, and to the people in the room.
5. Closing: a thought, a phrase they loved, or a goodbye.

"Good morning. My name is [name], and I am [relationship]. [Name] was born in [place] in [year], the [oldest, youngest] of [number] children.

If you knew [name], you know that [quality]. I think of the time when [short story].

[Name] was also [second quality]. [Short story.]

What [name] gave all of us was [what they leave behind]. [Name], thank you. We will carry you with us."

• "Anyone who met my mother remembers two things: her laugh, and her questions."
• "My grandfather never gave a speech in his life, so I will try to keep this short, the way he would have wanted."
• "Dad had a rule for everything, and I would like to share a few of them with you today."

• Aim for five to ten minutes: roughly 700 to 1,300 words.
• Print it in a large font, with space between paragraphs.
• Read it aloud several times before the service.
• It is fine to pause, breathe or cry. People are with you.
• Ask someone to stand by and finish reading if you cannot.

A eulogy captures a life in a few minutes. Many families want more afterward. The memories you gathered can become the starting point of a tribute book, the full life story of the person you lost, written from your family's memories and printed as a keepsake for the next generations.

For more ideas, see our guides on memorial book ideas and celebration of life ideas.

For a mother, people often remember the everyday care: the lunches, the phone calls, the advice that was right years later. For a father, the stories are often about work, humor and quiet acts of help. For a grandparent, the grandchildren's memories of holidays, recipes and small rituals usually move the room the most.

Whatever the relationship, choose two or three stories that only people who knew them would recognize. That is what makes a eulogy feel true, and it is what the family will want to keep afterwards, sometimes in a memorial book.