Dead people in my contacts list

[heatherblue]

But of a morbid one maybe, sorry!
In my phone there are contact details for three family members who are no longer with us. One of them has been gone more than 10 years. From time to time I go through my contacts and delete any I don't expect to use again but can't bring myself to delete those three. Is that weird? Does anyone else keep the details of the deceased?

I didn't delete but didn't add to contacts when I changed my phone.

I don't think it's weird OP.

I was going to post the very same poem. It breaks my heart.

My Dad's Facebook profile is still there. The first birthday after his death, a birthday reminder popped up, I had to 'unfriend' him as it just seemed wrong. I still have his phone number and email in my contacts though.

glamorousgrandmother I'm not sure how to do it but there's a way to change the Facebook page in to a memorial page or in memory of page I think it is.

*"Remembering" on Facebook it's called.

@glamorousgrandmother

I too have my dad and also my closest friend still in my contacts. Seems just part of all other memories of them I hold dear.

I guess when photos were new this would have been a similar issue. It would have seemed odd/unsettling/newly comforting to those without painted portraits to be able to see a photo of someone who had died.

Second the advice about screen shotting/printing/backing up/syncing to iCloud etc etc. Just do it !

My dad died 12 years ago. I still have his name and phone number in my contacts.

It pops up sometimes and I like to see it and remember.

No it's not weird. You're not ready to delete them and it's perfectly reasonable to keep their details. If you had their pictures in an old-fashioned photo album you wouldn't take them out when they died, would you? It's just different technology, that's all.

I can't delete either

I kept my dad's number for 10 years in my phone, I only deleted it this year when I saw another persons pic against his number on what's app, so the phone company must have reused it. I had a wee cry about it but once I saw the photo it was no longer part of him iyswim.

My Great Grandad passed away 1 and a half years ago, I still have his mobile and house number in my phone. I also have a voicemail that he left me the Christmas before he died which I can't bring myself to listen to but knowing it's there when I feel ready helps.

Awww Tummywhining

I rang my Nan's old landline a few times after she died . I knew nobody would answer but I rang it nonetheless

That poem! I used to teach it to classes but realised I needed to stop the time I taught it after my lovely, lovely stepdad had died and I ended up with a huge bundle of about 28 distraught teenagers simultaneously trying to give me a hug and a tissue due to a decidedly unprofessional lapse in my demeanour.

I've lost an uncle, a nephew and a very close girlfriend in the past 3 years. I'll never delete their contact details. Can't do it.

I put a similar thread up a few weeks ago. I can't bring myself to delete the contact details, nor Facebook page of a friend who died 11 months ago.

Happy to delete friends who have lost contact but I just can't delete his number.

I don't even have the same phone anymore so don't have any texts etc from him. Just his number.

Nope, can't delete MIL from phones.

When our landline phone rings the callers name shows up if it is in the phone's directory. With FIL and MILs home number it shows up as 'FILs name' and 'MILs name' eg John and Janet. (Names changed). Since MIL died (last Boxing Day) we still get calls from FIL and it always shows up with both their names, can be a bit emotionally jarring at times when we see her name.

She is not deleted from mobiles either, or her mobile number deleted from directories, but at least her mobile number isn't ringing us to show on the screen.

It would feel like deleting a bit of her if we took her off the phone lists. It can still feel a bit odd when only FIL answers the home phone and she never does, after all she was connected with that number for about 35 years before she died and when we rang them we normally wouldn't know who would be answering, sometimes I still half expect her to answer!

Must have taken me about 5 years to delete my mother's number from my phone, she died 9 years ago. I was just thinking about this the other day, as I was scrolling through contacts and felt bad/weird that it wasn't there.

I have my dads still and he's been dead nearly 4 years. I just couldn't stand to not see it in there.

I don't delete either. It just seems wrong somehow.

still got mil on mine. makes me smile when I see her name. miss her dearly

A friend who passed away unexpectedly about 5 years ago is still my FB friend. His wife posts little memories now and then and writes to him on his wall with updates and photos of their kids as they’re growing up. It’s turned into a beautiful memorial for him and I would never consider deleting him.

I still have various other contacts under ‘dad’ like his doctor his chiropodist the guy we sold his motorbike stuff to (before he died) etc etc etc. Because they start with dad I have just left them there. If I deleted them I would possibly think it was time to delete ‘dad’ and I’m not sure it ever will be my dad always said bye in the (transatlantic) phone with ‘cheerio’ and whenever I see ‘dad’ in contacts I hear it like it was yesterday. Makes me smile and have a rush of love and regret.

Oh candle with hair that’s really proper and lovely.

On Facebook (I don't have one but my families do), they still have got a few of my family members on there as friends, and they post quotes and lovely memorable details on their wall. They may be gone, but they are never forgotten and we still treat them as if they are here today. I know when people go missing and have been missing for several years and never found, their family members still treat them as if they have never been missing in the first place.