i read your post and got the feeling you wouldnt have noticed the article if she was ugly

I just assumed the last name Thompson and Bridgeport bred meant she had Daley connections

I would have noticed it. I'm wondering whether they would have printed it. I just can't figure out how someone I never heard of warrants an obit twice as big as Connie Dierking's. And on page 9 rather than in the obituary section.

@JORR - Not sure who she is but in my opinion, whether or not she/family is connected, somebody must have paid a pretty penny for that full page obit. I may be wrong and it wouldn't be the first time.

My father-in-law passed away in August and if i remember correctly, The Sun-Times wanted at least $400 for the bare minimum obit that you normally see with no pic or frills.

Pics, art, bigger size. etc. all added to a final increasing price that was very high. The cheapest paper we found for an obit was The Herald-News in Joliet for around $300 - again for the bare minimum size.

I got out of the newspaper business a few years ago because I could see it was headed for hard times. I would be very surprised if that obit was ran free of charge. This is Chicago and we know it is about who you know and all that stuff but this is a big obit and a full page. Wow.

Since you're a former newspaper guy, I'll ask, isn't there a different between an obit and a death notice? An obituary being reserved for people of a certain level of interest or importance to the general readership and a death notice being an ad placed by the family of the deceased.

I would think it's similar to drawing a line between editorial and advertising. When I ran my speaker business I advertised in Car Audio magazine. It was only discussed in the vaguest of terms, but their sales staff made it very clear that if my ad buy was large enough the likelihood of receiving positive reviews from the writers was very good.

I know when that honcho from ITW passed away Ferro & Co. caught heat because they treated his death as if the pope had just died. Yeah, the guy was Ferro's mentor, okay, but it's really not a great idea to run a paper based on personal whim if you want to be respected.

I would have noticed it. I'm wondering whether they would have printed it. I just can't figure out how someone I never heard of warrants an obit twice as big as Connie Dierking's. And on page 9 rather than in the obituary section.

I would think it's similar to drawing a line between editorial and advertising. When I ran my speaker business I advertised in Car Audio magazine. It was only discussed in the vaguest of terms, but their sales staff made it very clear that if my ad buy was large enough the likelihood of receiving positive reviews from the writers was very good. .

$400 for an obit? good god.

JORR, would you have?