THE PUBLIC MIND: COURTESY TITLES WOULD ADD RESPECT TO DEATH NOTICES

To the Editor:

After having lived in St. Louis for most all of 50 years, your paper in general, and your editorial page in particular, gives me a great deal of pleasure.

I have been in many larger cities, and The Missourian compares favorably with most all of the newspapers I have seen. I know that most of them are larger, due to a greater volume of advertising, but in the "meat" of the paper, The Missourian more than holds its own.

A suggestion: In your death notices, you always refer to the deceased person by their surname only, with no courtesy title, such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or (the offensive) Ms. I know it is a very small thing, and that every newspaper has its own style book. I feel, however, that it would lend a more respectful tone to your death notices if courtesy titles were used. Just a suggestion.

Keep up the good work.

Jerry Mitchell

Jackson

Editor's Note: Thanks for your suggestion. We follow The Associated press style, in which courtesy titles are generally not used.