Obituary Examples for an Uncle

The uncle in a family is often the one who taught you something your parents were too busy to — how to bait a hook, reverse a trailer, hold your temper. When it falls to a niece or nephew to write his obituary, the trick is to keep his hands in it: the things he made, fixed and drove. Below are three versions of one uncle's life — short and dignified, personal and warm, and faith-centred.

Short and dignified

Desmond Peter 'Des' Fortuin, 70, of Kraaifontein, died on 17 July 2026 after a long illness borne without complaint. Born in District Six on 5 April 1956, Des drove a delivery truck for a Cape Town wholesaler for thirty-two years and knew every back road on the peninsula. He kept a 1978 Ford Cortina in the driveway and spent most Saturdays under its bonnet, whether it needed him or not. He is survived by his wife, Sophia; his brothers, Neville and Ashley; and the nine nieces and nephews he taught to change a tyre before they could drive. The funeral leaves from the family home in Kraaifontein on Saturday at 08:30. Rus sag, Oom Des.

Personal and warm

Our uncle Sipho Ngcobo — Bra Sax to everyone in Umlazi — died on 14 July 2026 at the age of 66. Sipho worked the gold mines at Carletonville for twenty years and came home each December with his suitcase and his stories. He kept a crate of vinyl records under his bed, and on Sunday afternoons he would put on Mahlathini and turn it up until the tin roof buzzed, teaching us to jive one at a time in the yard. He never married, but no child in the family went short of pocket money or advice. He is survived by his brothers, Themba and Musa; his sister, our mother, Gugu; and the dozen of us he always called his own. Lala ngoxolo, Malume.

Faith-centred

Ebrahim Salie — Boeta Braima to the whole of the Bo-Kaap — was returned to his Maker on 19 July 2026, aged 72, and buried the same afternoon, as our faith asks. For fifty years he made the walk to the Auwal Mosque before dawn, and the neighbours set their clocks by his footsteps on the cobbles. Every Eid he was up before the sun, frying the koesisters the family recipe demanded and no other. He asked for little and gave without keeping count. He leaves his wife, Galiema; his brother, Yusuf; and the sixteen nieces and nephews he walked to madrassa and taught to greet their elders properly. Janazah prayers were held at the Auwal Mosque. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

Writing tips for a uncle's obituary

Put his hands on the page. Uncles are remembered by what they did — the braai he ran, the punctures he fixed, the car he kept going for thirty years. One working detail beats a paragraph of 'hardworking and kind.'
If he taught you something, name it exactly. 'Taught me to reverse a trailer in an afternoon, swearing gently the whole time' is truer to an uncle than 'always willing to lend a hand.'
Don't tidy away his humour. Many uncles held the family together by making it laugh; a line about the story he told every Christmas honours him more than a solemnity he would have hated.
Name the nieces and nephews, and anyone he stood in for. For a bachelor uncle especially, those bonds were the shape of his life — list them as you would his own children.

Ready to make the programme?

Free to build and download · $11.95 once for the clean PDF · never a subscription

Start a programme — free

Common questions

Who should write an uncle's obituary?+

Usually a niece or nephew, or a surviving brother or sister. Try to gather one memory from each side of his life — his workmates often knew a different man from the uncle you grew up with, and both belong on the page.

How do we write about an uncle who kept to himself?+

Let his actions carry it. A private man is still known by what he did — the lawn he cut for the widow next door, the lift he never refused. Concrete kindnesses say more than any claim about a personality he guarded.

Is humour appropriate in an uncle's obituary?+

Often, yes — gently. If he was the family's joker, one true and affectionate line in his own spirit will comfort mourners more than forced solemnity. Read it aloud first: if it makes you smile rather than wince, keep it.