Honestly, when you lose someone in a tight-knit place like Carbon County, the first thing everyone does is check the paper. It’s just how things work here. In Lehighton, that means looking at the Times News. It’s more than just a list of names; it’s basically the community’s shared memory bank. Whether you are looking for a service time for a friend or trying to track down a great-grandfather for a genealogy project, the times news obituaries lehighton pa are the definitive record for this corner of Pennsylvania.
But finding what you need isn’t always as straightforward as it used to be. The way we read the "Times" has changed. You've got the physical paper, the website, and the Legacy archives all tangled together.
How to Find Recent Times News Obituaries Lehighton PA
If you’re looking for someone who passed away in the last few days, you have a couple of main paths. Most people head straight to the Times News Online (tnonline.com). They have a dedicated section for obituaries that usually updates every morning. It's fast. It's easy.
But here is the thing: the online version on their main site is often just the "tip of the iceberg." For the full experience—the guestbooks, the photo galleries, and the ability to send flowers—the paper partners with Legacy.com.
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If you go to the Legacy browse page for the Times News, you can filter by city. This is huge if you only care about Lehighton and want to skip the notices from Palmerton, Tamaqua, or Lansford. You'll see names like Marlene E. Ruch or Barton L. "Buster the Clown" Fritzinger, local figures whose lives are documented there with full tributes.
I've noticed that sometimes a name appears on the Legacy site before it hits the main newspaper website's front page, or vice versa. If you're looking for someone specific and don't see them, check both. It only takes a second.
Digging Into the Archives: Genealogy and Old Records
What if the person you're looking for didn't pass away yesterday? Maybe it was twenty years ago. Or maybe it was 1920.
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Lehighton’s history is deep. The Times News itself actually traces its roots back to the Mauch Chunk Daily Times, which started way back in 1883. That is a lot of ink. For these older records, you can't just scroll through a website. You need the heavy hitters.
- GenealogyBank and Newspapers.com: These are the gold standards. They have digitized years of back issues. You can search by surname, and it’s kinda amazing to see the original scans of the paper from the 40s or 50s.
- The Lehighton Memorial Library: Don't sleep on the local library. They often have microfilm or physical archives that haven't made it to the internet yet. If you are doing serious family research, the librarians there are basically wizards.
- Funeral Home Listings: Sometimes the "Times News" version of an obituary is shortened to save on print costs. If you know which funeral home handled the arrangements—like Ovsak or Mayes-Melber—check their websites. They often host the "long version" of the life story for free, forever.
The Cost of Saying Goodbye: Submitting a Notice
If you're the one tasked with writing an obituary, it can feel overwhelming. You're grieving, and now you have to worry about word counts and deadlines.
The times news obituaries lehighton pa pricing is actually pretty specific. It isn't a flat fee. Most local papers in the Pencor Services family (which owns the Times News) charge by the word or by the line. In late 2025 and early 2026, the rates usually follow a tiered structure:
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- A "Death Notice" (the bare basics: name, date, service info) is the cheapest option, often starting around $35 to $70.
- Full obituaries (the life stories) are priced per word. It’s common to see rates like $0.80 per word for the first hundred words, then the price per word drops as the notice gets longer.
- Photos usually cost an extra flat fee.
Pro tip: Most people let the funeral director handle the submission. They have a direct line to the paper’s "Obit Desk" and know the deadlines. If you’re doing it yourself, you can call the Times News office on Blakeslee Boulevard at (610) 377-2051. Just remember that they have strict cut-off times for the next day's print edition.
Why This Paper Still Matters
In a world where everything is "global," the Times News stays aggressively local. This is the paper that covers the Lehighton Halloween Parade and the high school football games. When someone's life story is printed here, it’s being read by their neighbors, their former teachers, and their coworkers.
It serves as a "verified" record. Social media posts can be deleted or lost in an algorithm, but once that notice is printed in the Times News, it's part of the permanent history of Carbon County. It’s a way of saying, "This person was here, and they mattered to this town."
Key Details to Remember
- The Print Schedule: The Times News is a daily (except Sundays). If you miss the Saturday deadline, you're looking at Monday.
- Legacy Guestbooks: These usually stay open for a set period unless the family pays for a permanent sponsorship. If you want to leave a message for a family, do it sooner rather than later.
- Accuracy: Double-check the spelling of every name. Once it’s in print, it’s a whole ordeal to get a correction published.
If you are looking for a specific person right now, the best move is to start with the search tool on Legacy.com using "Times News" as the source. It’s the most comprehensive digital database for the area. For anything older than the mid-90s, you’ll likely need to head to GenealogyBank or pay a visit to the local library on North Third Street.
To get started with your search, go to the official Times News website and navigate to the "Obituaries" tab under the "Community" or "News" section to see the most recent postings from the last 24 to 48 hours.