I deleted Mom from my contacts after she died in January (at the age of 96) – not that she ever rally cottoned to using a cell in any event – but I have not deleted any of her friends. I should actually check in with a few of them.
@EllieMom I am so sorry.
It took me years to delete by brother. It seems so final. One of his best friends told me he deleted him right away as it helped him. Grief is odd and unpredictable. My mom is still in my phone 2+ years later.
When my brother died (2007) we still had a landline and flip phones. He left a message on our old fashioned answering machine about a month before he died. When we dropped the landline, I kept the machine so I could listen to the last message. A few years ago, I finally recorded the message with my computer so I could get rid of the machine. I never play it, but can hear it in my head anyhow.
I didn’t have any social media back then. A few years after he died, Facebook suggested him as a friend along with a good friend of his who died about 2 years after my brother. What a kick in the gut.
Not really about phone contacts but before my mom died I recorded her telling some stories using my phone. I listen once in a while just to hear her voice. Those were good times. I’ve done the same now with my dad --I’ve got him telling some history in his own words so I can preserve it.
What a thread! I have my friend’s last voice mail on my phone, not yet deleted. Another friend’s FB gets comments on his B-day. I’ll see how long it takes when I finally delete them.
As a family member I would be hesitant to leave any FB account up for security purposes. Sad, but I’d probably try to preserve what I could in some way and then take it down pretty quick.
It turns out that you can request that Facebook “memorializes” an account:
A surviving contact can request that an account for a deceased person be memorialized, or you can designate a legacy contact for your account.
My husband recently passed. I haven’t yet even turned off his cell phone account, cleared his iPad or deleted his Facebook account. Some of these things I don’t even know how to do. It’s hard enough slogging through the bank, the trust, and credit cards. Still have him in contacts, but probably because I don’t spend any time looking at, or cleaning up, my contacts.
Thank you for the instructions for the Facebook memorialize account. I notice that a lot of his friends are still posting and I just don’t want to abruptly close the account
Hugs all around. <3
This is an interesting, touching thread. Most of us have been in this situation with someone we loved. Don’t ever be afraid to hang onto memories.
My college roommate died unexpectedly in her elementary classroom (she was a teacher) almost 7 years ago. My post is the last one on her FB page, it has been memorialized. It always startles me when her name comes up on my friends list.
Thanks to this thread I just deleted FIL, but my Dad has been gone nearly a decade and he is still there
I don’t delete either.
My brother died two years ago, and friends and family post remembrances on his FB page from time to time. His phone/contact info is still in my phone.
I have a short video of my dog, who also died two years ago on my phone I still watch it occasionally.
My deceased wife’s contact info is still in my phone, almost 4 years later. In fact it was only last month that I took her phone number off of my cell phone plan. Unfortunately I accidentally zapped her last voicemail she sent to me before she passed away.
My dad died almost six years ago and he is still a contact in my phone.
Manny years ago, one of my sisters recorded my dad singing happy birthday…and she has it on her phone. Dad died about 5 years ago…and he still sings happy birthday at every birthday celebration!
We also had a fabulous YouTube video of him…but for some odd reason…it’s no longer on YouTube.
I deleted “Mom” from my phone just in case there was an emergency and someone tried to call her.
I do, however, still have the key to her house (sold long ago) on my key ring.