Please help us to post deaths in a timely manner

The Broken Wand section of the IBM Portal and The Linking Ring is: (1) to pay tribute to magicians who have died, (2) to notify friends of the deaths, and (3) to archive those obituaries for historical purposes. People honored do not need to be I.B.M. members.

While it is the duty of Ring Secretaries to notify the I.B.M. Office (office@magician.org) when a Ring member dies, anyone can do it. Please don't assume someone else will do it or has done it. We'd rather have duplicate notifications than none at all.

Too often, the I.B.M. Office only learns about a magician's death when a membership renewal invoice is returned with the word "Deceased" on it. So then we have to begin looking for the information to use in an obituary. At other times, we learn of a death in some other publication, maybe weeks or months later. Recently we learned that a magian had died only when his wife died -- three years later. You see our frustration when we can't be timely in notifying friends.

When you notify us, please leave a telephone number and e-mail address so that the Broken Wand editor can follow up for additional information on the deceased. We like to have a newspaper obituary and a good photo of the individual, as well as standard information, including names of survivors.

We also recommend that local Rings offer to families to conduct a Broken Wand Ceremony at an appropriate time: at the funeral, at the visitation, at the cemetery, or at a Ring meeting. It is important to be respectful during this time of grief, and to not be pushy. The Broken Wand Ceremony can be very meaningful for the family, so ask gently. The Broken Wand Ceremony is printed in the main menu for your benefit.