Whenever Liz Hargrove wants to bring back fond memories of her late father, she goes online. After his death three years ago, Hargrove used a Moving Memorial from Making Everlasting Memories to create a DVD of her late father. Containing photos, captions and music, the DVD is available online for Hargrove and her computer savvy family to view 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on the company’s Web site. As a receptionist at Lima Family Sunnyvale Mortuary, Hargrove works with families to create their own Moving Memorial, which she says is very therapeutic for family members. “There is a lot of laughing and a lot of crying…it really helps a lot,” she says.

Whether it’s an obituary, a tombstone or a funeral service, there is an inherent need to preserve the memory of a person who has passed away. In the last decade, the Internet has become yet another place to preserve and grieve the dead. Online memorial sites blend convenience and accessibility with products and services to pay tribute to loved ones while meeting societies' growing demand to stay connected at the touch of a button.

Memorial Web sites vary in their style, service and cost. Making Everlasting Memories' (MeM) site resembles the inside of a photo album, with a mix of black and white and color snapshots of men, women and babies loosely arranged on the web page. The entrance to the Virtual Memorial Garden (VMG) is a black and white pencil drawing of an iron gate with a large sign revealing the site’s name in Old English font.

Virtual Memorial Garden is one of the few Web sites that offers free online memorial services. “I am not in the business of exploiting people’s grief,” says VMG founder Dr. Lindsay Marshall. The user provides any links or attachments to a memorial, which includes an online guest book for visitor comments. Marshall classifies his website as a service, not a business. “It’s easy to create, free (if you use my site anyway) and it’s there all the time…people are freed by the electronic medium,” says Marshall regarding the appeal of memorial sites.

Sites like MeM charge for products and set aside a portion of the fee into a care and maintenance fund, which covers archiving and site upgrades. “I want this (Web site) to be older than me. I want it to go on after I am gone, and the only way to do that is to charge for it,” says MeM President Scott Mindrum. MeM products range from a $50 photo announcement that remains on the website for 90 days to the popular and permanent Family Heritage Registry, a kit that includes a written biography, online guest book and Moving Memorial DVD for $595.

Hosting obituary sections for 250 newspapers nationwide sets Legacy.com apart from other sites, according to President and CEO Hayes Ferguson. “I think there is value in that, to be able to have your loved ones' tribute linked to the San Francisco Chronicle’s website, it gives it credibility,” Ferguson says. The company’s newest product, Moving Tribute, includes a 500-word biography, photos, music (provided by Legacy.com) and the option to add audio narration for $29.

The future of memorial Web sites is as permanent and extensive as the Internet itself. “There is a need and a desire to have different ways to pay tribute to people and this is one way of doing that,” Ferguson says.