We are in the midst of many college and high school graduations, which invariably involve some older person telling younger people how they can best live their lives.

Some of these speeches are interesting, insightful and even humorous. Most, unfortunately, are not.

Young people, for better or worse, learn far more from the examples we set than the advice we hand them.

That’s why most newspaper readers probably find obituaries so interesting.

From them we can discern the courses of many lives, plus tidy summaries of the things other people found most admirable about the way those lives were lived.

Graduation speakers regularly tell young people that they can make a difference. Marion Fuller Brown, who died last Friday, did just that.

Three-and-a-half decades ago, Brown spearheaded a legislative effort to remove billboards from Maine’s roadways, a quest she undertook in her late 50s.

In a state that relied heavily on tourism, Brown could not have had an easy time persuading her fellow lawmakers that removing the giant signs from our highways would, in the end, actually be good for business.

In late April, a bill was introduced to roll back part of the billboard ban. Brown was too ill to testify, but her daughters argued on her behalf, urging lawmakers not to undo their mother’s legacy.

It was heartening to see major tourism groups in the state join them in opposing the bill.

Maine’s pristine appearance, they said, sets us apart from other states and is more of a business asset than even the tallest road sign.

After leaving the Legislature, Brown helped found Scenic America, a national group still working to preserve America’s iconic landscape.

Brown was a strong-willed woman who left her mark on Maine and America. She was 92 when she died.

We lost another great role model Saturday with the death of James W. Smith of New Sharon,

Smith, according to his obituary Tuesday, “passed away quietly in the home of his ancestors and the room he was born in …”

Smith’s life was one of steady contribution to his country and his community.

After graduating from high school in 1944, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent 14 months stationed in Italy.

He was a lifelong dairy farmer, as difficult and demanding a life as any.

Yet his life of community service really set him apart. Smith spent 47 years as a New Sharon selectman and held various positions on the library board, cemetery association, Historical Society, Masons Lodge and Congregational Church.

He and his wife, Hazel, raised three sons, Frank, Ben and Robert. He was 84 when he died.

Smith and Brown were joined on Tuesday’s obituary page by five others, Ernest Lavoie Jr., Richard Fish, Lucy Dube, Pauline Cote and Lindy Williams, people loved by their families and remembered for their unique traits and abilities.

Obituaries, of course, do not tell all of the story. Kindly left out are the mistakes we make and the flaws we all possess.

But while the details vary, the themes in obituaries are remarkably constant: dedication to community, to country, to career and family — good advice for any new graduate.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.