how to write list of survivors in an obituary [closed]

Obituaries often include lists with this grammatical structure:

John Doe is survived by his children, Steve Doe and his wife, June; Will Doe and his wife, Janet; Susan Richards and her husband, Walter...."

It seems to me that the above is incorrect because, despite phrases like "his wife" and "her husband," the wives and husbands still fall under the rubric of "his [John Doe’s] children." So my first question is, am I wrong about this?

According to obituary convention, you could write,

"his children, Steve (June) Doe, Will (Janet) Doe, and Susan (Walter) Richards."

However, many families do not like how this looks. Would "His children and their spouses" followed by their names be right? I have some doubts about this because, without the word "respectively," it’s potentially ambiguous.

This brings me to my second question: Other than using parentheses, what would be the correct way to write this list?

Solution 1:

I don't read obituaries, so I'm not quite sure of the structure, but I agree that the way you state it implies the spouses are his children as well.

My initial feeling is that I don't even think it's necessary to include spouses, but I would rewrite it as: John Doe is survived by his children, Steve Doe, married to June; Will Doe, married to Janet; and Susan Richards, married to Walter.

Or something like that.

Your second option, children and their spouses, makes more sense. I feel like the reader would assume his children are the ones mentioned first, but it is ambiguous.

How do the obituaries deal with grandchildren? Do they mention them?