Finding a notice for a loved one in the Sun City isn't quite as straightforward as it used to be. Honestly, the days of just picking up a thick Sunday edition of the El Paso Times and flipping to the back are fading fast. Today, if you're looking for obituaries in El Paso, you're basically navigating a mix of digital archives, funeral home portals, and social media tribute pages.
It’s a bit overwhelming. You've got legacy newspapers, local family-owned funeral homes like Perches or Sunset, and then the massive national databases like Legacy or Dignity Memorial.
Where do you even start?
The Digital Shift in El Paso Tributes
Most people assume every death in the city ends up in the newspaper. That’s just not true anymore. Because the cost of print space has skyrocketed, many families are choosing to skip the traditional paper route entirely.
They’re going digital-only.
It makes sense when you think about it. A full obituary in a major daily can cost hundreds, sometimes over a thousand dollars if you want a photo and a decent word count. In a city like ours, where family ties are huge and the "extended" family includes half the neighborhood, those word counts add up fast.
Where to look first
If you're trying to find someone, your first stop shouldn't actually be Google. It should be the website of the funeral home handling the services. Local spots like Sunset Funeral Homes, Perches Funeral Homes, and Martin Funeral Home maintain their own digital walls of remembrance.
These are usually free to access.
They also tend to be more "real-time" than the newspaper. If a service time changes because of a sudden West Texas dust storm or a venue conflict, the funeral home site is where that update happens first.
The Cost of Saying Goodbye in Print
People often get sticker shock when they call the El Paso Times or look at the submission portal. Unlike a standard news story, an obituary is essentially a "paid notice." It's classified advertising.
Pricing is usually tiered. You've got your basic text-only notice, then the mid-range with a small black-and-white thumbnail, and finally the "deluxe" versions with color photos and multiple columns.
Pro Tip: If you're on a budget but want that public record, check if the funeral home includes a "basic notice" in their package. Often, they have a deal with the local papers to run a three-line "Death Notice" (just name, age, and service date) for a much lower fee than a full narrative obituary.
Writing for an El Paso Audience
El Paso is different. We’re a border city with a deep sense of community and faith. When you’re writing obituaries in El Paso, there are certain local "must-haves" that you might not see in a place like Seattle or New York.
For starters, nicknames are huge.
If everyone knew your uncle as "Kiki" or "Chino," you better put that in the headline. If you don't, half the people who want to attend the Rosary won't even realize it's him.
The Rosary and the Mass
In our predominantly Catholic community, the "service" is rarely just one event. You usually have:
- The Visitation/Wake: Where the casket is present.
- The Rosary: Usually held the evening before the funeral.
- The Funeral Mass: Usually at a local parish like St. Patrick Cathedral or a neighborhood church.
- The Graveside Service: Often at Restlawn, Mount Carmel, or Fort Bliss National Cemetery.
If you’re the one writing the notice, make sure these are clearly separated. People get confused. They’ll show up to the church when they meant to go to the funeral home.
The Fort Bliss Factor
We are a military town. Period. If your loved one was a veteran, the obituary needs to reflect that, not just for pride, but for logistical reasons.
Services at Fort Bliss National Cemetery are strictly timed. They operate on a "committal service" schedule, which is usually about 20–30 minutes in a shelter, not at the actual gravesite. If you’re searching for a veteran's obituary, look for the mention of "Military Honors." This usually means there will be a flag folding ceremony and Taps.
It’s a beautiful, somber El Paso tradition that brings a lot of people out to pay respects, even if they didn't know the deceased personally.
Misconceptions About "Public Records"
A common mistake? Thinking that the County Clerk’s office is the same as an obituary.
A death certificate is a legal document. An obituary is a story.
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While the El Paso County Clerk maintains death indexes, those are for legal and genealogical use. They won't tell you that your Nana made the best red enchiladas in the Lower Valley or that she worked at the ASARCO plant for thirty years.
For the "soul" of the person, you need the community-contributed stories found in those digital guestbooks.
How to Find Older Records
If you're doing genealogy and looking for obituaries in El Paso from the 1950s or 1980s, you’re going to need the library. The El Paso Public Library (Main Branch) downtown has an incredible collection of microfilm.
It’s old school.
You sit at a machine, spin the reels, and look through old copies of the El Paso Herald-Post or the Times. It’s tedious, but it’s the only way to find those older notices that never made it onto the internet. Some of it has been digitized by sites like GenealogyBank or Ancestry, but the local library is still the "gold mine" for niche El Paso history.
Actionable Steps for Families
If you are currently tasked with handling a notice, don't rush it. Take a breath.
- Check the Funeral Home Package: Ask specifically, "Is an online obituary included in your professional services fee?" Most of the time, the answer is yes.
- Draft Offline First: Write the story in a Word doc or Google Doc before you start typing it into a newspaper’s submission portal. Those portals often time out, and losing your progress is the last thing you need right now.
- Identify the "Key Three": Make sure the Full Name (and nickname), the Date of Service, and the Location are in the first two sentences.
- Photo Choice: Use a high-resolution photo. If you use a blurry cell phone pic, it’s going to look even worse when printed on newsprint.
The most important thing is accuracy. Double-check the spelling of family members' names. In the middle of grief, it is incredibly easy to accidentally leave out a grandchild or misspell a sister's name.
Basically, think of the obituary as the final "thank you" to the person who passed. It doesn't have to be perfect prose; it just has to be true.
Next Steps for You
To move forward with your search or tribute, you should first identify which funeral home is handling the arrangements, as their website will host the most current information. If you're looking for historical records, head to the El Paso Public Library's genealogy department with a specific date range in hand. For those writing a new notice, verify the "per-line" cost with the newspaper before you finalize your draft to avoid unexpected expenses.