Below is the full speech, laid out the way it would appear on cue cards: one beat per card, each with a short heading so you can see where you are at a glance. Read it through once for the shape, then use the notes underneath to make it yours.
The speech
Good morning. My name is Olivia, and Rose was my grandmother. Thank you all for being here today. Nan would have been amazed to see so many people in one room, and she would already be asking whether everyone had eaten. [BREATHE]
Nan was born in a small country town, the second of six children. She left school at fifteen to work in her uncle’s shop, where she met my grandfather, Tom, who came in every day for a newspaper he never read. They were married for fifty-four years.
She raised four children, and later helped raise eleven grandchildren. Her kitchen was the centre of our family. There was always a pot of tea, a tin of biscuits and someone sitting at the table telling her their news. She listened to all of it.
We remember her garden, especially the roses she was so proud of. We remember her terrible singing in the car. We remember that she never once let a birthday pass without a card, written in her careful, looping handwriting. [PAUSE]
Nan taught us to work hard and to be kind, and she taught us that those two things are not separate. She taught me to knit, badly, and to make scones, slightly less badly. Most of all, she taught us that you look after the people around you.
In her last years, when getting around became hard, she still wanted to know about everyone else. Even in hospital, she asked the nurses about their families. She was herself right to the end. The last time I visited, she asked me to check that someone was watering the roses.
Nan, thank you for the tea, the cards, the scones and the love. We will look after the roses, and we will look after each other, the way you showed us. [PAUSE] Goodbye, Nan. We love you.
Open this speech as cue cards to edit it, change the text size and print it.
Make it your own
- Write a eulogy out in full and use large type. Nobody expects it to be memorised.
- Ask family members for one memory each, then choose a few that show different sides of the person.
- Mark [BREATHE] at the start of the cards you expect to be hardest.
- Give a printed copy to the celebrant or a family member who can read on if you need to stop.
- For a grandfather, change the details and keep the shape: life, family, memories, lessons, goodbye.
Work through the cards in order. For each one, ask what job it is doing (introducing you, showing a trait, thanking people, asking the room to act) and write your own version that does the same job. Keep each card to one idea. If a card gets too long to glance at, split it in two.
How to deliver it
Rehearse out loud at least three times, standing up, holding the cards you will use on the day. The first run is for finding the awkward sentences, the second for timing, and the third for looking up. Try to say the first line of each card while looking at the audience, then glance down only to find the next prompt.
Slow down more than feels natural, especially after a punchline or an emotional line. Cues in square brackets, such as [PAUSE], are reminders for you, not words to say. Number your cards, hold them at chest height, and move each finished card to the back of the stack. If you are using a microphone, hold it in one hand and the cards in the other.
For more on this kind of speech, read the eulogy cue card guide, or go back to all speech examples.