Losing someone is heavy. It's a weight that doesn't really go away, and honestly, the paperwork and digital trail that follow can feel like a secondary burden you just weren't ready for. When you start looking for Hunt and Son Funeral Home obituaries, you aren't just looking for a block of text or a date of birth. You’re looking for a legacy. You’re looking for that specific story about how they always over-salted the Thanksgiving turkey or the way they’d sit on the porch every Sunday morning.
Based in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Hunt & Son Funeral Home has been a staple of the community for a long time. They’ve handled generations of families. But finding the right information online isn't always as straightforward as a quick Google search might suggest, especially with how fragmented funeral data has become lately.
What You’re Actually Looking For in an Obituary
Most people think an obituary is just a death notice. It's not. A death notice is a tiny, paid snippet in a newspaper that says "John Doe died on Tuesday." An obituary is the narrative. For the families served by Hunt & Son, these records often serve as the primary historical document for a person’s life.
When you're digging through Hunt and Son Funeral Home obituaries, you're likely trying to find one of three things. First, the practical stuff: service times, locations, and where to send flowers. Second, the genealogical data—who were the parents? Who survived them? Third, and maybe most importantly, you’re looking for the "dash." That little line between the birth year and the death year that represents an entire lifetime of experiences.
I've noticed that people often get frustrated because they find a name but no details. Or they find a "tribute wall" that’s empty. This happens because, in the digital age, funeral homes often host a "placeholder" while the family gathers their thoughts to write the full story. If you see a bare-bones listing, check back in 24 to 48 hours. Writing a life story takes time, and rushing it usually leads to those typos that haunt family reunions for years.
The Crawfordsville Connection and Why it Matters
Hunt & Son isn't some corporate conglomerate. It’s a local institution. This matters because the obituaries they produce often reflect the specific culture of Montgomery County. You'll see mentions of local churches, high school sports rivalries, and long careers at places like Wabash College or the local printing plants.
If you're doing genealogy, these local details are gold. A mention of a "Linden High School" graduate from 1954 tells you exactly where to look for yearbooks. A "member of the American Legion Post 72" note gives you a lead on military records. These aren't just words; they are breadcrumbs.
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How to Navigate the Hunt & Son Website Effectively
The website for Hunt & Son (which is currently located at huntandson.com) is the primary source. Don't rely on those weird third-party "obituary scraper" sites that pop up in search results. You know the ones—they have a million ads and ask you to "light a virtual candle" for $5. Avoid them. They often get the dates wrong because their bots misread the text.
Go straight to the source. Once you're on the official site, use the search bar. But here is a pro tip: less is more. If you're looking for "Robert William Smith," just search "Smith." Sometimes the digital records use nicknames or middle names that you might not expect. Sorting by date is usually the default, but if you’re looking for someone from ten years ago, you’ll need to dig into their archived section.
Writing the Obituary: What Most People Get Wrong
If you are the one currently tasked with writing an obituary for a loved one being handled by Hunt & Son, the pressure is real. You feel like you have to be Shakespeare. You don't.
Actually, the best obituaries are the ones that sound like the person. If they were a grump who loved his dogs more than people, say that (tactfully). If they were the kind of person who never met a stranger, mention the time they spent four hours talking to a cashier at the grocery store.
The biggest mistake? Listing every single cousin and great-niece while forgetting to mention what the person actually loved. People want to know about the 1967 Mustang they spent twenty years restoring, not just that they were a member of a committee they hated attending.
The Logistics You Can't Ignore
Look, the obituary is also a logistical tool. It’s the "where and when."
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- Service Details: Be incredibly clear about the difference between a "Visitation," a "Funeral Service," and a "Graveside Service." Hunt & Son often holds visitations the evening before. If you mix those up, people show up to a locked door or a finished burial.
- Memorials: If the family wants donations to the Montgomery County Community Foundation instead of flowers, put that in the first or last paragraph. People read the beginning and the end. They skim the middle.
- Photos: Use a photo where the person looks like themselves. It doesn't have to be a professional headshot. If they lived in a fishing hat, use a photo of them in the fishing hat.
Finding Older Records and Genealogy
What if the person died in 1985? Or 1940?
The current digital archives for Hunt and Son Funeral Home obituaries typically go back a few decades. For anything older, you're going to have to step away from the funeral home's website and look at the Crawfordsville District Public Library. They have an incredible local history and genealogy department. They’ve digitized a massive amount of the Journal Review (the local newspaper), which is where these obituaries originated before the internet existed.
Sometimes, the funeral home still has the "paper files." While they are a business and their primary focus is serving current families, local funeral directors are often surprisingly helpful to historians if you are polite and patient. Just don't call them on a Monday morning—that's usually their busiest time for arrangements.
The Role of Social Media in Modern Mourning
It’s kinda weird how we handle death on Facebook now, right?
When an obituary is posted on the Hunt & Son site, it usually gets shared to social media. This is where the real "tributes" happen. The formal obituary is the official record, but the Facebook comments are where you find the raw, honest memories. "I remember when your dad taught me how to throw a curveball." "She was the best teacher I ever had."
If you're looking for information on someone, check the "Shares" on the obituary link. You'll find a whole network of people who knew them. It’s a modern way of sitting shiva or having a wake.
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Why Some Obituaries Are "Private"
Every now and then, you’ll search for someone you know passed away and... nothing.
It can be frustrating. You think the website is broken or the funeral home forgot. Usually, it’s a deliberate choice by the family. Not everyone wants their life story indexed by Google. Sometimes there is family friction, or they just want a private graveside service without the public knowing the details.
In these cases, respect the silence. If there isn't an obituary, there probably isn't meant to be one.
Actionable Steps for Locating or Creating Records
If you are currently looking for a specific record or preparing to write one, here is exactly what you should do:
- Check the primary source first: Go to the Hunt & Son official website. Use the search function with just the last name to avoid filtering out results due to middle name discrepancies.
- Verify with the local paper: Cross-reference the information with the Journal Review in Crawfordsville. Sometimes newspapers include slightly different details or different photos than the funeral home site.
- Use the Library: For any death prior to the year 2000, contact the Crawfordsville District Public Library’s genealogy department. They are the true experts on Montgomery County history.
- Keep a Copy: If you find an obituary you need for your family history, don't just bookmark the link. Websites change. Companies get bought. Print it to a PDF and save it in a cloud drive.
- Write for the Future: If you’re writing an obituary today, remember that someone 50 years from now will be reading it to figure out who their ancestors were. Give them enough detail to actually "meet" the person.
The process of looking through Hunt and Son Funeral Home obituaries is often an emotional one. Whether you are a researcher, a distant relative, or someone in the thick of grief, these records are the final word on a life lived in a tight-knit Indiana community. Take your time, verify the dates, and remember that the most important parts of a person's life often exist in the spaces between the lines of the printed text.