Letter: The last to know
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Further to Su Newland's sensitive article on the exclusion of friends from the grieving process (10 February), even worse is when distant friends are not even told of the death, and only find out months or even years afterwards, usually through persistent letter writing. When communities are so fragmented, there are bound to be friends whom the family does not even know, and grief combined with disorganisation mean the address books of the deceased are unlikely to be systematically combed through.
On two occasions I have been informed very late of a friend's death. This has made me determined my friends should not suffer a similar delay were I to die. I have made an exhaustive list of people to be informed, by the executor of my will. It may reduce the sum of human misery if other people would adopt this simple idea.
Yours sincerely,
DEIRDRE KINGSMAN
Perivale, Middlesex
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments