Finding a specific notice in the Peninsula Daily News obituaries past 30 days isn't always as straightforward as hitting "search" and calling it a day. Honestly, if you've spent more than five minutes scrolling through Legacy pages or the PDN digital archives, you've probably realized that the North Olympic Peninsula handles its records with a mix of old-school grit and modern paywalls.
People die. It's a heavy reality in Clallam and Jefferson counties, where the community is tight-knit and the newspaper remains the primary "town square." But here is the thing: a lot of folks assume that every death in Port Angeles or Sequim automatically ends up in the paper. It doesn't.
The Split Between "Death Notices" and "Obituaries"
There is a massive difference between a free death notice and a paid obituary. Basically, the Peninsula Daily News offers a free "Death Notice" service for residents of the North Olympic Peninsula. These are short. No photos. No long stories about how Grandpa loved fishing for salmon at Freshwater Bay. It’s just the name, age, residence, and basic funeral info.
If you’re looking for the full story—the one with the photo and the list of twenty grandkids—that’s a paid obituary. These are submitted by the family or a funeral home like Drennan & Ford or Harper Ridgeview. If you can't find someone in the last 30 days of records, it’s often because the family opted for the free notice, which sometimes doesn't stay indexed in the same way on the major search portals.
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How to Actually Find Someone from the Last Month
If you are hunting for someone who passed away recently, say, since mid-December 2025 or early January 2026, you have three main paths.
- The Legacy Portal: This is where the PDN hosts its most recent listings. You'll find names like James Walter Brooker or MaryAnn St. Charles listed here shortly after they pass.
- The E-Edition Archive: This is the "hidden" gem. If you have a subscription, the PDN's digital replica (the e-edition) lets you flip through actual pages. This is vital because sometimes the OCR (optical character recognition) on search engines misses a name that’s clearly printed on the page.
- Local Library Indexes: The North Olympic Library System (NOLS) is arguably the best resource for anything that happened on the Peninsula. They maintain an obituary index that goes back to 1916. If you’re a local cardholder, you can skip the paywalls.
Recent Names in the Records
Just in the last few weeks, the community has said goodbye to several prominent figures and long-time residents. Looking through the Peninsula Daily News obituaries past 30 days, you’ll see entries for folks like Kathrine Breitbach and Richard "Dick" Johnson from Port Angeles. Over in Sequim, names like Patrick Rollin Moody and James Lee Ward have recently appeared.
It’s a lot to process. The list isn’t just names; it’s a snapshot of the region’s history. For example, the recent passing of June Caroline Reiger and Michael E. Haggerty earlier in January 2026 serves as a reminder of how deep the roots go in this corner of Washington.
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Why the Search Fails (and How to Fix It)
Common mistakes? Tons of them.
First, people search by full names only. Kinda a mistake. Older residents or those who went by nicknames might be listed as "Bill" instead of "William" or even just by initials. If you're looking for a female relative, honestly, try searching her husband’s name too. It’s an old-fashioned habit that still pops up in how these are written.
Second, check the funeral homes directly. Places like Sequim Valley Funeral Chapel or Linde-Price Funeral Service often post the full text on their own websites before the PDN's digital index catches up. If you're in a hurry to find service times for someone who passed in the last 48 hours, the funeral home site is usually faster than the newspaper's 30-day archive.
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The Paywall Problem
Let’s be real: news isn’t free. The Peninsula Daily News uses an "E-Wallet" or term subscription system. If you try to dig too deep into the archives without a login, you’ll hit a wall.
However, if you just need to see the headline or the basic "last 30 days" list, the Legacy.com affiliate page for PDN usually stays open for browsing. It's when you want to read the 800-word life story or print a high-res photo that they'll ask for the credit card.
Practical Steps for Your Search
If you are currently looking for a record from the past month, do this:
- Start at the PDN Legacy page. Filter specifically for "Last 30 Days."
- Vary the spelling. Typing "Kathy" instead of "Kathleen" can change your results entirely.
- Check the "Eye on the Peninsula" section. Sometimes death notices are mentioned in local news roundups or community briefings before the official obituary is formatted.
- Call the NOLS library. If you are stuck, the librarians at the Port Angeles branch are masters of the microfilm and the digital index. They can often pull a record faster than you can navigate a buggy search bar.
The North Olympic Peninsula is a place where legacy matters. Whether you're looking for Bradley Wayne Miller or Ingrid Lehrer, these records are the primary way we keep track of the neighbors we've lost. Don't rely on a single search engine; use the local library and the funeral home sites to get the full picture.
To ensure you have the most accurate information, verify the date of publication against the date of death, as there is often a 5-to-10-day lag between the passing and the printed notice. For those performing genealogical research, keep a log of the specific edition dates you've checked in the PDN archives to avoid paying for the same search twice.