Losing someone is heavy, and honestly, trying to track down the details for a service or a final tribute shouldn't make it harder. If you’re looking for obituaries for Salina Kansas, you’ve probably noticed that the information is scattered across a few different funeral home sites, local news portals, and digital archives. It’s not just one big list anymore.
Salina is a tight-knit community. When a neighbor or a family member passes, people notice. Whether you’re checking for service times at Ryan Mortuary or looking up a long-lost relative in the Salina Journal archives, knowing exactly where to click saves a lot of frustration.
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Where the Recent Listings Actually Live
Most people start with a Google search, but the fastest way to see who has passed away in the last 48 hours is to go straight to the sources that the local families use.
The Salina Post is basically the digital heartbeat of the city right now. They update their obituary section constantly. As of mid-January 2026, they’ve recently shared notices for folks like Larry D. Wegner and Allen Louis Middle. They include the full text, often with photos, and they don't hide it behind a paywall, which is a huge plus.
Then there are the funeral homes. These are the folks actually handling the arrangements, so their sites are the "ground truth."
- Ryan Mortuary & Crematory: They’ve been around for four generations. If you’re looking for someone like Delroy Lee Holzwarth or Anita Mae Nicholson, their site has the most specific service details—dates, times, and where to send flowers.
- Carlson-Geisendorf Funeral Home: Their recent listings include Betty Jo Keck and Gary D. Webb. They tend to write very personal, warm tributes that give you a real sense of the person’s life, not just the facts.
- Roselawn Mortuary: Often used for services involving the Roselawn Memorial Park, their digital guestbooks allow you to leave a note for the family, which is a nice touch if you can't make it to the visitation.
Searching the Salina Journal Archives
If you’re doing genealogy or looking for someone who passed away years ago, the Salina Journal is your best bet, but it's a bit more complicated.
The Journal has been the paper of record for Saline County for over a century. However, their online archives can be hit-or-miss depending on which platform you use. GenealogyBank and Ancestry.com have digitized a lot of the older microfilm, specifically covering the years from 1951 through the late 70s and into the early 2000s.
Pro tip: If you are looking for an old Salina obituary from the early 1900s, initials were the "thing" back then. Instead of searching for "William Smith," try "W. Smith" or "Mrs. W. Smith." It sounds archaic, but that’s how the records were kept.
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The Smoky Valley Genealogical Society Connection
Not many people talk about this, but the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society & Library (which is right here in Salina) is a goldmine. They maintain an obituary index that is arguably more accurate than the automated "big tech" genealogy sites.
They have physical binders and digital indexes that cover local names from A to Z—from Abbott to Zuker. If you can’t find a digital record of a death in Salina from, say, 1940, these are the people you email. They understand the local geography and the common misspellings of Kansas surnames that often trip up automated search engines.
Why Some Obituaries Are Hard to Find
Sometimes you know someone passed, but the obituaries for Salina Kansas just don't show up. It's frustrating.
Basically, an obituary is a paid notice. If a family chooses not to buy one in the newspaper, it won't be there. In those cases, you have to rely on the funeral home's "tribute page." Many younger families are moving away from the $300–$500 cost of a newspaper print and sticking solely to Facebook or the mortuary’s website.
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Also, keep in mind that "death notices" and "obituaries" are different. A death notice is just the bare-bones facts—name, age, date. An obituary is the story. If you’re searching and getting zero results, try searching just the last name and the word "funeral" within the last 7 days on the Salina Post or KSAL news sites.
Finding Historical Records at the Library
The Salina Public Library (the one on Elm Street) is actually incredible for this. They have the Salina Journal on microfilm, and for the more recent stuff (2020 to 2023), they have a local digital archive you can access if you're physically in the building.
If you live out of state and are trying to track down a Salina record, you can actually call their reference desk. They’re usually willing to do a limited search for you if you have a specific name and a rough date. It beats paying for a $20-a-month subscription to a genealogy site just for one look-up.
Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you need to find an obituary right now, follow this sequence to save time:
- Check the Salina Post first. It’s the fastest-loading and most current "all-in-one" list for the city.
- Visit Ryan Mortuary or Carlson-Geisendorf’s websites. If the person passed in the last week, the full service schedule will be there before it hits the papers.
- Search "Legacy Salina" if you’re looking for someone from a few months ago. Legacy aggregates most of the funeral home data into one searchable database.
- Contact the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society for anything older than 20 years. Their index is much more comprehensive for local Saline County residents than national databases.
- Use the "Find A Grave" website. While not an obituary, for Salina-area cemeteries like Roselawn or Gypsum Hill, users often upload photos of the physical obituary clipped from the paper directly to the memorial page.
Finding these records is about knowing which local door to knock on. Stick to the local funeral home sites and the Salina Post for the most accurate, current information.