The Obit Project
Jad Abumrad and Jule Banville
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About This Podcast
Stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. Co-hosted by old friends and colleagues Jad Abumrad (founder of Radiolab and creator of Dolly Parton’s America and 2025’s Fela Kuti: Fear No Man) and University of Montana professor and journalist Jule Banville (An Absurd Result). This 12-episode production of the Montana Media Lab at the UM School of Journalism started with a class of college students learning about the long tradition of obituary writing. It culminated with them and other journalists creating a new form that explores universal truths, legacies and reckoning with the memories of those we love. Hear the stories wherever you get your podcasts and on Montana Public Radio.
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Recent Episodes
Climbing Out of the Dark Hole
When Bea Burnham walked up to her house one day, she saw her husband of 30-plus years lying dead in the lawn. That stopped her world from spinning for a while, but she pulled herself up, fixed what…
Deciding to Say Goodbye
Clifford Marion was a jokester and a lover of card games and gambling. He was a force where he worked for a decade at the Town Pump. And then he got sick. At the end, surrounded by his family, it was…
The Farmer Who Never Left His Land
Wayne Boyes was the de facto mayor of the unincorporated town of Tarkio off Interstate 90, though he’d never want that title. He was too busy with his cows. Wayne was born in Tarkio, he married his…
Off the Grid by Choice
A lot of people in Billings, Montana, knew Stanley Littleboy by sight. He was that homeless guy with the great face you’d see downtown or in South Park. But he had people who loved him. His kids and…
An Imperfect Parent
Darrel Johnson was someone people thought they knew. Maybe they worked alongside him at a high school dance. Maybe they knew him from Boy Scouts or through the camp he ran for troubled boys. His son…
The Ghost Lady Is My Neighbor
When she was in high school, Lotus Porte-Moyel interviewed her neighbor, Ellen Baumler, about being a successful woman. Ellen’s success was measured in history books – she wrote 13 of them about the…
Vanished in Vietnam
In 1965, Montanan pilot Dean Pogreba pulled up into the clouds over North Vietnam and was never heard from again. That left his wife and kids to always wonder: Was he still out there? Over the years,…
Friends Till the End
Brendon Galbreath’s death was covered by most major news stations in Montana. He died after being pulled over. At first, it wasn’t clear if a cop shot and killed a 21-year-old citizen of the…
The Elephant Under Dillon
Everyone from Dillon knows about the elephant struck by lightning and buried on the spot in what’s now the fairgrounds. But few are as obsessed with telling and remembering the story of Old Pit as…
For Ruth
The headline on Ruth Anderson’s obit in the New York Times defines her as a pioneering electronic composer. In certain circles, she was a famous artist and professor. Her partner, Annea Lockwood, was…
A Very Responsible Dude
In his obit picture, Terry Holo looked like The Dude from The Big Lebowski and, for a time, he kind of was that guy. But when reporter Izaak Opatz joined Terry’s brother, Bob, to clean up the house…
The Obit Project - Coming April 02, 2026
Stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. Young journalists reinvent the obituary, creating a form that explores universal truths, legacies and reckoning with the memories of those we…
Frequently Asked Questions
The Obit Project has published 12 episodes since March 2026, covering topics in Documentary, Society & Culture.
The Obit Project is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 26m.
Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for The Obit Project, including email and social media links.
