✍️ Writing

Eulogy Writer for a Timed Spoken Tribute: Family Memories and Anecdotes into a Read Aloud Script at About 130 Words per Minute, Pause Cues, a Shorter Backup Version, and Name Pronunciation Notes

Turn family memories, dates, and stories into a eulogy you can actually deliver: a word budget from your time slot at about 130 words per minute, a clear structure built around one or two qualities, short sentences written for the ear, read aloud pause cues, a section timing table, a shorter backup version made by cutting, and pronunciation notes for every name.

0.0
0Reviews
P
October 6, 2026

Prompt

Act as a funeral celebrant and speechwriter who has helped grieving family members write and deliver eulogies at church services, memorial gatherings, and graveside services, and who knows that a eulogy is heard once, out loud, by people who are tired and sad, and that the speaker may cry halfway through.

Inputs:
- The person: full name, the name everyone used, birth and death dates, places, work, family: [PersonFacts]
- Memories, anecdotes, sayings, and habits from the family, with who shared each one: [Memories]
- Who is speaking, their relationship, and how comfortable they are speaking in public: [Speaker]
- Time slot for the eulogy and the backup length if the service runs long: [TargetMinutes]
- The service: religious or secular, where the eulogy falls in the order, other speakers and what they will cover: [Service]
- Names, places, and words the speaker must pronounce, with the family's pronunciation if known: [NamesToPronounce]
- Topics the family wants left out (illness, estrangement, cause of death, a past marriage): [Avoid]
- Output format: [Format]

Generate:
1. A word budget: TargetMinutes x 130 words per minute, then keep about 90 percent of that for words and leave the rest for pauses and composure. Show the math for the full and backup versions.
2. A through line: one or two qualities of the person that the Memories prove. Pick the anecdotes that show those qualities and list any memory you left out and why (repeats another speaker, does not fit, on the Avoid list).
3. The eulogy in labeled sections: opening (who the speaker is and their relationship), a short life sketch with dates said the way people speak them, two or three anecdotes each ending on what it shows, what the person leaves the listeners, and a farewell line.
4. Write for the ear: sentences under about 20 words, no parentheses, the person's name repeated instead of pronouns after a pause, numbers and years written as spoken, and an echo line that ties the ending back to the anecdotes.
5. Read aloud cues inline: /pause/ after a key line, /breathe/ before an emotional sentence, /look up/ where the speaker should meet the room. Mark the hardest sentence and give a short recovery line the speaker can say if their voice breaks.
6. A timing table per section with word count and seconds at 130 words per minute, plus the total against the budget.
7. The backup version, built by cutting marked sections so the speaker does not have to learn new text. List exactly what to cut and the new word count.
8. Pronunciation notes: a plain respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals for every item in NamesToPronounce, marked CONFIRM WITH FAMILY when the family's version was not given.
9. A family review list: every date, name, and fact to confirm before the service.

Constraints:
- Use only the facts and memories in Inputs. Do not invent stories, quotes, achievements, last words, or details of death.
- Keep everything on the Avoid list out, including hints at it. Humor stays gentle and about the person, never at anyone's expense.
- Respect the Service: faith language only if the family's tradition calls for it. Avoid cliches like lost their battle. No em dashes.

Instructions

Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Generated Output

This image was generated using the prompt above.

Eulogy Writer for a Timed Spoken Tribute: Family Memories and Anecdotes into a Read Aloud Script at About 130 Words per Minute, Pause Cues, a Shorter Backup Version, and Name Pronunciation Notes - Result

Examples

Example Input

PersonFacts: Margaret 'Peggy' Kowalczyk, born 1941 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, died September 28, 2026. Married Wojciech (died 2009). School librarian at Dunmore Elementary for 31 years. Lived on Ash Street.
Memories: from Anna: she taped torn library books back together and called it surgery. From Michael: she drove him to a music school audition in Pittsburgh, picking him up at 5 a.m. with sandwiches, and told everyone at church he got in before he told his parents. From neighbors: every August she left tomatoes in paper bags with each neighbor's name on the bag. From everyone: Sunday pierogi.
Speaker: granddaughter Anna, 24, nervous, has never spoken in public
TargetMinutes: 2.5 minutes, backup 1.5 minutes
Service: Catholic funeral Mass, eulogy after communion, Father Tom gives the homily, no other family speakers
NamesToPronounce: Kowalczyk (family says ko VAL chick), Wojciech, Dunmore, pierogi
Avoid: her two years of illness and the nursing home
Format: script with cues, timing table, backup, pronunciation, review list

Example Output

Word budget
Full: 2.5 x 130 = 325, keep about 90 percent = about 292 words. Backup: 1.5 x 130 = 195, about 176 words.
Through line: Peggy fixed things and showed up for people without being asked. Left out: nothing from Memories; illness and nursing home per Avoid.

Script
OPENING
Good morning. My name is Anna, and Peggy Kowalczyk was my grandmother. /pause/ Most of you knew her as Peggy. Some of you knew her as Mrs. K, the librarian at Dunmore Elementary. /look up/

LIFE SKETCH
Grandma was born in Scranton in nineteen forty one. She married my grandfather, Wojciech, and for thirty one years she ran the library at Dunmore Elementary. /CUT FOR BACKUP/ She knew every book on every shelf. And she knew which kid needed which book. /END CUT/

STORY 1: SURGERY
When a book came back torn, Grandma did not throw it away. She called it surgery. She laid it on the table, put on her reading glasses, and taped every page back in. Then she handed it to the next child like it was new. /pause/ That was Grandma. Nothing she loved got thrown away. /breathe/ Not books, and not people.
Hardest line. Recovery line if needed: "Give me one second. She would want me to finish."

STORY 2: FIVE IN THE MORNING /CUT FOR BACKUP/
When my cousin Michael had his music school audition in Pittsburgh, Grandma picked him up at five in the morning. She packed sandwiches for both of them. She did not ask if he wanted a ride. She was already in the driveway. /pause/ Michael got in. Grandma told everyone at church before he told his own parents. /look up/

STORY 3: TOMATOES
Every August, the neighbors on Ash Street found paper bags on their porches. Each bag had a name on it, in Grandma's neat librarian handwriting. Each bag was full of tomatoes from her garden. She never knocked. She never waited to be thanked. /pause/

WHAT SHE LEAVES US /CUT FOR BACKUP/
So here is what I think she would want from us. Fix what is torn. Show up early. Leave something good on somebody's porch. /breathe/

FAREWELL
Grandma, thank you for the books, the early mornings, the tomatoes, and every Sunday plate of pierogi. /pause/ We love you. Rest now.

Timing at 130 wpm
| Section | Words | Seconds |
| Opening | 32 | 15 |
| Life sketch | 41 | 19 |
| Surgery | 59 | 27 |
| Five in the morning | 58 | 27 |
| Tomatoes | 43 | 20 |
| What she leaves us | 24 | 11 |
| Farewell | 22 | 10 |
| Total | 279 | 129, about 2:25 with pauses, under the 292 budget |

Backup version (about 1.5 minutes)
Cut the marked LIFE SKETCH lines, all of STORY 2, and WHAT SHE LEAVES US. In the farewell, drop "the early mornings,". New count: 178 words, about 82 seconds plus pauses.

Pronunciation
- Kowalczyk: ko VAL chick (family version)
- Wojciech: VOY chek, CONFIRM WITH FAMILY
- Dunmore: DUN more
- pierogi: pih ROH gee, CONFIRM WITH FAMILY

Family review list
- Birth year 1941 and place Scranton
- 31 years at Dunmore Elementary
- Michael is comfortable with the audition story being told
- Street name Ash Street

Reviews (0)

Please login to leave a review.
Loading reviews...