Old memorial cards

Baybay

Hoping this is posted in the right place.

I am still going through documents etc following the death of my mother earlier this year.
She has saved many things over the years, amongst them, a significant number of memorial cards. Some of them are of family & friends, which I will keep but a lot are for people I just don't know. They may be family or friends of my parents but have had no inclusion in my life.
It seems disrespectful to just discard them but what do I do with them?

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I kept all from my mother, many years ago, and they became a marvellous source recently when my grandchildren started compiling a family tree.

Baybay

That's a good idea, Srameen & I will indeed keep all the cards associated with family & friends. It's the rest I just don't know what to do with!

Miaireland

I was in the same boat when cleaning out my Grandparents house. We kept any card that belonged to family and tried to pass on some of the others to family members but in the end we did end up throwing away some of them. We felt awful doing so but my Grandparents were involved in a number of charities nationally and there were hundreds of cards that we could not trace a family member or friend for. We did arrange for the local priest to say a mass for all the people though.

Stopped Clock

In my parent's house, just about every memorial card that came to us was binned. The only ones I've ever seen in the box are family members and close friends. What are they only a revenue spinner by a printer thank you gesture from the bereaved person's family? It's only a personalised greeting card at the end of the day, not a prized possession.

If I was faced with this conundrum, I would get rid of all these cards. Something that probably happened to the vast majority of the other cards that were sent out for these people. I'm not religious so I accept that my view of life will be colouring this. Having said that, the suggestion about having a mass said for them is a good one and it'd be more beneficial than leaving an unwanted pile of cards in a box. Or if you don't want to approach a priest, light a few candles in the local church or make a donation to a charity of your choice.

Ghekko

We just binned them. None of us wanted to keep them. I think we also binned all the sympathy and Mass cards we got after mum died last year. The entire process of clearing the house has made me look at my own house. I will seriously de clutter in the New Year! The amount we binned was shocking. We gave stuff to charity and kept a few things each but realistically we wouldn't have space for ornaments, photo frames etc. It's a very emotional thing to do but you do need to detach yourself somewhat.