Questions to Ask the Family

1. Explain that you are trying to gain a better feel for what that person was like, so you can be more personal.

2. What one adjective would you use to describe him?

3. Did he have any particular loves or hobbies?

4. Did he enjoy any particular songs? poems? or Scriptures?

5. If you could name one value or lesson he most wanted to teach the next generation, what would it be?

6. What one achievement or accomplishment would make his eyes light up when you mentioned it?

7. What were some of his favorite phrases or sayings?

8. Did he ever put anything up on the wall - a picture or motto that expresses who he was?

9. Did he like his first name? Did he have any nicknames?

10. Was there a cause or a movement that he felt deeply about and supported with his time and resources?

11. If he could have me say one thing during the funeral, what do you think it would be?

12. Why do you think this world is a little different because of him?

(Taken from Leadership 100, March-April 1982, p. 26.)