Reasons I wanted to Memorialize Eric’s Facebook Account:

So no one would hack into it.

So Eric’s birthday reminder wouldn’t be sent to his friend list, and he won’t show up as a suggested “friend you might know” to others.

I wanted Eric to be able to look through family memories that we had shared online. Deleting the account would delete some memories together that I’d be able to look back on.

I wanted to be able to transition my relationship status to “widowed” to help me accept my new normal. In order for Eric’s name to be linked to the “widowed by” on MY Facebook account, his account had to be memorialized.

I wanted him to still be accessible on social media for friends, family, and the coaching, football, and student community - as they share memories of him, they would tag him and it is nice going back to his Facebook page and reading those stories.

I wanted to be the one to do this first before someone else did it, like a crazy ex-girlfriend.

Talk with your spouse about whether or not they’d want their Facebook account completely deleted or memorialized, like with what I did to Eric’s Facebook Page.

FIRST: Create a Legacy Contact

Before you memorialize your loved one’s Facebook account, make sure you are listed as a LEGACY CONTACT. I didn’t have Eric’s Facebook account password (that’s a whole other blog), but I did have access to his Facebook account through his cellphone. Luckily I knew that password. I was able to go into his account settings and set his LEGACY CONTACT as myself. A LEGACY CONTACT has limited access to a person’s Facebook account.

Set YOUR Legacy Contact

Do NOT, I repeat, do not memorialize anyone’s Facebook account unless you are the person’s spouse or next to kin. I’d be totally pissed if someone did that to Eric’s account - especially if I wasn’t listed as a Legacy Contact. And once the memorialization is approved by Facebook, there’s no going back…

SECOND: Memorialize the Account

If your loved one is passed and you want to memorialize their account - or you know that they want this AND the Legacy Contact has already been created, then you’ll need to answer a few questions for Facebook’s MEMORIALIZATION REQUEST to be approved.

Again, please only do this if you are the spouse or next to kin, otherwise you’re probably gonna piss someone off and a pissed off widow should be greatly feared, just saying.

Memorialization Request